


Sleep in my arms

by SlytherinSpaceCat



Category: NINE PERCENT (Band), 偶像练习生 | Idol Producer (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Food Fight, Humor, M/M, Mutual Pining, Save them, Sleepover AU, Truth or Dare, sort of canon compliant, stupid boys in love, this is a mess
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-02
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2019-05-17 09:21:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14829609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlytherinSpaceCat/pseuds/SlytherinSpaceCat
Summary: There’s a lot of things you can learn about the trainees by just watching them through the cameras. Especially when they don’t think they’re being watched.Like how gay they were for each other.Cheng Xiao and Zhu Jieqiong had been watching them. And they knew. Oh, they knew. And they thought that it was time to do something about it. It was for everyone’s best.What could possibly go wrong?-Or; the idol producer sleepover that we all crave (admit it)





	1. Zhangjun

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my new idol producer fic. This is my baby. I love it very much, and I hope that you'll enjoy reading as much as I enjoy writing it. 
> 
> So this is basically gonna be the same night, but from the perspective of different pairings. It's going to be one chapter for each pairing, and I'm gonna name the chapters after the pairings, so it will be easy to find if you just wanna read one specific ship! (even if I recommend you to read the chapters in order, because I'll just explain some things in some chapters) 
> 
> Gaah, I'm so excited to post the first chapter of this mess. Here goes

 

"Do we know why they asked us to gather here?" Lin Chaoze asked, maybe a little bit nervously. But it wasn't like they didn't have reason to be suspicious, Lin Yanjun thought, as he followed his teammate into the room. Especially not after the ghost prank.  

"If this is another prank I will quit", Qin Fen said and pointed to a camera. "Don't you dare." Han Mubo patted him on the shoulder.

"I want to see them try," Yanjun said with a wooden stick suddenly in his hand. You never knew when you might need a nice stick.

"Where did you get that?!" Chaoze exclaimed and tried to take the stick from Yanjun. Without success. "Seriously, why are you like this?"

"If we just sit down I'm sure PD will explain everything eventually," Cai Xukun, ever so trusting, said. Beside him Wang Ziyi nodded. Yanjun rolled his eyes at them.

The rest of the trainees gingerly sat down on the floor. Except for Justin who threw himself over Fan Chengcheng, because why sit on the floor when you can sit on someone else. Chengcheng grumbled, but he didn't throw Justin off, instead, he just moved so they both were more comfortable. Justin looked very content with his seating. Zhu Zhengting rolled his eyes at them.

Yanjun sat down beside Zhangjing on instinct. It just seemed most natural to sit beside his shorter team-member. Zhangjing flashed him a big smile which made Yanjun's warm inside.

"What do you think this is all about?" the shorter said.

"No idea," Yanjun answered. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

Soon enough, just as the trainees was starting to get suspicious for real, Cheng Xiao and Zhu Jieqiong walked in. The two women immediately brightened the room of gloomy trainees. They all scrambled to their feet when the two dance mentors walked in.

"Hello, teachers!"

"Hello, how are you feeling?" Cheng Xiao said and smiled like the angel she was.

"We have a surprise for you!" Jieqiong filled in and clapped her hands. Some of the trainees actually groaned.

"What kind of surprise?" Bu Fan asked. "If you scare us again, I will…"

Yue Yue stopped him before he could finish that sentence. Mu Ziyang and Ling Chao snickered beside them.

Jieqiong and Cheng Xiao actually laughed. "No, no, it's nothing scary, we promise", Cheng Xiao said.

"We know how hard you all have worked. And now there's only 35 of you left," Jieqiong continued. "So, we thought that we would do something for you to help you relax."

"Hotpot?" Zhangjing spoke up. Chaoze hit him, but some of the others seemed like they've hoping on the same thing. Yanjun snickered. Of course Zhangjing would hope for a surprise like that.

"No, not this time," Cheng Xiao laughed. "We have planned a few games for you – and a sleepover!"

"A sleepover?" Xukun echoed.

"We already share dorms, it's like a sleepover every night," Xiao Gui said, unimpressed.

"No, no, we're going to have a real sleepover. Right here," Jieqiong explained. They were in the biggest training room, and if they squeezed together, they could all fit on the floor. Maybe.

"Right here?", now it was Li Quanzhe who echoed.

"Yes," Cheng Xiao beamed. "Don't you think it's a great idea?"

None of the trainees answered, they just shared somewhat confused looks with each other. It looked like some of them were still expecting a prank. Especially Qin Fen who had hidden behind Han Mubo. So much for being the oldest there.

"I think it will be lovely," Yanjun finally said and showed off his best dimpled smile.

"That's the spirit!" Jieqiong said and pointed to Yanjun.

"Have you hit your head?" Zhangjing said beside him and gave him a suspicious look.

"No, I actually think this might be fun," Yanjun answered with a grin and put his arm around Zhangjing's shoulders.  Chaoze and Dinghao just shook their heads and Zhangjing rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, come on, this might be fun," Xukun said loud so everyone could hear. "Let's be optimistic."

Typical Xukun to try to get everyone on board. Ziyi nodded again in agreement. Yanjun wondered if Ziyi ever disagreed with Xukun. Once in a blue moon maybe.

"Yes, we promise it won't be anything bad," Cheng Xiao said. "As a part of that promise here's the first part of the surprise." She did a gesture at the door where some of the staff started to carry in tables.

"It's not hotpot, but we hope you'll like it anyway," Jieqiong said with a smile to Zhangjing.

"Ooooh," all the trainees said when more staff started to carry in trays with food and dessert and put them down on the tables. Zhangjing's face glowed with anticipation and joy.

"Hey, don't start to drool now," Yanjun teased and Zhangjing hit him on the arm.

"I won't."

"Of course not," Yanjun hummed and patted Zhangjing on the head. The older shook his hand off and shoot him a burning glare. It would've been fierce if he hadn't been so cute.

"Dibs on the pizza!" Justin yelled as soon as the staff put down the last container of food.

"Behave," Zhu Zhenting reprimanded and caught Justin and Chengcheng's collars as they tried to run to the table.

"Thank you, teachers!" All of the trainees bowed. Cheng Xiao and Jieqiong smiled happily.

"Please eat," Cheng Xiao said with a gesture at the table. The trainees didn't need to be told twice. Yanjun slowly followed Zhangjing as the shorter trainee sprinted to the table with food and started to stuff his face.

The noise of the trainees happily eating and chatting filled the room. Yanjun liked these moments on the show best. When they were just hanging out, more like friends and brothers than opponents in this huge competition. And he especially liked seeing Zhangjing like this, happily eating to his heart's content while smiling widely at everyone. Yanjun's heart always seemed to skip a beat every time Zhangjing turned his smile to him.

"Don't you think this is great?" Zhangjing beamed with chocolate around his mouth.

"It really is," Yanjun agreed with a dimpled smile.

"Take this, Chengcheng!" Justin suddenly shouted, followed by the sound of something soft hitting someone – like a cupcake finding its way into Chengcheng's face.

Chengcheng wiped the frosting from his face, and with a glare that could kill he took up another cupcake and chucked it at Justin. The only problem was that Justin was prepared for that and ducked. So instead the cupcake hit the back of Zhu Xingjie's head.

The older trainee slowly turned around. The glare Chengcheng had given Justin was nothing in comparison to the look Xingjie gave him. Chengcheng seemed to freeze on the spot while Justin was folding over from laughter.

"You are so dead, Chengcheng," Xingjie said and took up a piece of cake as he advanced on Chengcheng.

"You should probably run," Justin suggested between laughs. Chengcheng immediately turned around and ran. But he didn't get far before Xingjie was over him and pushing the cake into his face.

"FOOD-FIGHT!" Bu Fan yelled and threw a cake at Xiao Gui.

And thus, the food-fight was in full bloom. If the mentors had anything against it, they didn't say it.

Yanjun ducked when Dinghao threw a potato his way and then managed to skip to the side when Jeffrey of all people tried to hit him with a piece of pizza. How the hell even throws pizza? The disrespect.

Yanjun caught a glimpse of Zhangjing taking a tray with dessert and slipping under the tablecloth. He grinned and looked around. No one was paying him any mind. So he ducked down and slid down under the table.

"Trying to hide?" he teased when he crouched down beside Zhangjing. The shorter trainee jumped.

"Don't scare me like that," he said and hit Yanjun on the arm. "And no, I'm not hiding."

Yanjun raised an eyebrow as to say ‘oh, really?'

"No," Zhangjing said firmly. "I just don't want to be a part of a food-fight. Food is for eating, not throwing. It's sacrilege to waste food like that."

Yanjun laughed. There were only two things You Zhangjing was really passionate about – singing and eating.

"Sacrilege?" Yanjun said and leaned over to snatch a cookie from Zhangjing's tray. "Don't you think you're exaggerating now?"

"Never. You don't joke about food." Zhangjing's gaze was firm, but a smile tugged at his lips.

"You're a weird one," Yanjun said fondly and wiped off some chocolate from Zhangjing's lip with his thumb.

"You can be the weird one," Zhangjing shot back, but there was a dust of pinks on his cheeks that made Yanjun grin.

A few sudden thuds made them both look up. It sounded like someone was walking on top of the table. The thuds were followed by a few more. Now it was definitely more than one person on the table. Someone cried out what sounded like a battle cry.

"Do you think the table will hold?" Zhangjing asked gingerly.

"Nonononono!" someone yelled. It sounded a lot like Zhengting. Yanjun had since long concluded that Zhu Zhengting probably was the only sane trainee.

"Maybe we shouldn't risk it," Yanjun said after a few more thuds. He took hold of Zhangjing's arm and led him out from underneath the table. They just had time to see Zhengting – his face covered in cake – pull Ding Zeren off the table, while Xiao Gui, who was also on the table, did a victory pose. 

"Where have you two been?" Chaoze asked – with Dinghao hiding behind his back for some reason – when they suddenly turned up beside him.

"Not hiding," Yanjun said with a wink. Zhangjing laughed and hid his face in Yanjun's shoulder.

"Okay…" Chaoze said and looked between them before he shrugged. He had no interest in knowing what those two were up to.

Cheng Xiao clapped her hands, and everyone looked up. "This was fun," she said with a big smile. Somehow, she and Jieqiong were still completely clean. Yanjun suspected that none of the trainees had dared to throw food at them.

"Everyone should go and clean up and get your sleepover stuff and then we'll meet back here," Jieqiong said and picked up a cupcake behind Cheng Xiao's back. She winked at the trainees.

"Then we have some more…" Cheng Xiao didn't get further before Jiqiong smashed the cupcake in her face. All the trainees howled with laughter.

"Jieqiong!" Cheng Xiao yelled. Jieqiong just laughed and ran.

"Maybe we should go get our things then," Yanjun said when Cheng Xiao ran after Jieqiong.

"How are you two clean?" Dinghao complained on their way to the dorms. His shirt was covered in food and it looked like someone had drawn with chocolate on his face.

"Why do you have a chocolate heart on your cheek?" Zhangjing asked curiously, without answering Dinghao's question.

"I tried to get back on Xinchun for spitting water at me that one time," Dinghao pouted. "But he got the upper hand, and this happened." He pointed at his face.

"You know he's taller than you, right?" Chaoze said and patted Dinghao on the shoulder.

"You could've helped me," Dinghao complained. "Quanzhe was helping him. It was two against one."

"Nah, that's no fun."

"At least he drew a heart," Yanjun chimed in. "And not a dick."

Both Zhangjing and Chaoze hit him for that. So rude.

They arrived back at the dorms and Yanjun left the others to go clean up in the room he shared with Linong. He'd been a bit down over the fact that he hadn't got to share a room with Zhangjing – and Chaoze and Dinghao, of course – but at the same time he reasoned that he probably got more sleep this way, not staying up late talking with the others.

"How did you managed to stay clean?" Linong wondered as he stepped into the room. The younger was more or less covered in food. "It seemed like everyone was out to get me."

"I'm just great like that," Yanjun said with a wink. Linong snorted.

"Everyone is probably just afraid to get on your bad side, Cold Yanjun. Even Teacher Li is afraid of you."

Yanjun threw his head back laughing. "On such occasions as these, I don't mind."

He gathered his thing before he went over to the other's rooms. He could hear their bickering from a mile away and he shook his head fondly.

"You guys are the most self-centered bunch I've ever had the unluck to meet," he heard Chaoze say just as he arrived at their room.

"Yeah, same," Yanjun grinned. His eyes directly found Zhangjing's and the older rolled his eyes at him. He just grinned wider.

"You have no right to speak, Lin Yanjun," Chaoze said and pointed at him with a camera in his hand for some reason.

Yanjun just laughed. "I was going to ask if you were ready to head back, but it seems like you're busy." He nodded towards the camera and the fact that Dinghao was still covered in chocolate.

"Yes, we're very busy, please leave," Dinghao said and placed Chaoze in front of him. It looked like he wanted Chaoze to take a picture of his face.

"I'll go with you," Zhangjing smiled and got up. "See you guys later, don't take too much time."

Yanjun waved at the others as he followed Zhangjing out of the room.

"What were they up to?"

"Oh, you know, just Dinghao being extra, nothing new," Zhangjing answered with a shrug. Yanjun laughed and put his arm around the shorter's shoulders. Zhangjing didn't seem to mind. Or maybe he just used to it since Yanjun took every chance he got to initiate physical contact with him.

Yanjun listened fondly while Zhangjing talked about his practice with the ‘I will always remember’ team and the extra lessons he needed to have with Ziyi. Zhangjing also lets him know with a hushed tone, like his telling a secret, that Ziyi sometimes looked around and seemed a bit lost, as if he was missing something – or someone. They agree that it was probably Xukun he's looking for, since they both had managed to be on the same team until now.

"We have never been on the same team," Yanjun commented. They're back in the training room now, waiting for the others to get back.

"No, that's because you can't sing," Zhangjing teased. "I don't want to be on the same team as a rapper who can't sing."

"So rude," Yanjun said and poked the other. "Didn't you hear my performance in Loving you? Even Jeffrey confessed that I was a good singer."

"He was probably too afraid to say anything else."

Yanjun frowned his signature frown and Zhangjing laughed. Yanjun was just about to start to sing when Dinghao arrived and slouched down beside Zhangjing and rested his head on his shoulder.

"What have you done now?" Zhangjing asked, a bit amused.

"Why do you always think that I have done something?" Dinghao whined.

"Because Chaoze just arrived looking ready to hit you," Yanjun grinned and pointed over to the door where Chaoze just had arrived with the Yuehua boys. That was interesting.

"Real immature, Dinghao," Chaoze said as he stopped in front of them with his hands on his hips. Dinghao just pouted and hid his face deeper in Zhangjing's shoulder. Yanjun would've been jealous if he didn't know that Dinghao was smitten with Xinchun.

"I talked with Xinchun," Chaoze continued. "He was kind of hurt that you thought that you two had a feud."

"He's the one that started it!" Dinghao pouted.

"Is this about the water spitting incident?" Yanjun asked, looking curiously between Dinghao and Chaoze. Dinghao nodded and Yanjun threw his head back laughing. That had been hilarious, Dinghao had been mortified and Xinchun had looked like he didn't know what to do when Dinghao pouted and whined. Yanjun kinda felt sorry for the Yuehua boy, he didn't know what he'd gotten himself into with Dinghao. 

"Poor, Xinchen, having to deal with your overdramatic ass," Zhangjing grinned, apparently thinking the same thing as Yanjun.

Cheng Xiao and Jieqiong came back before Dinghao could come with a salty reply and clapped their hands to get everyone's attention. They got up and gathered in front of the dance mentors.

"Is everyone back?" Jieqiong asked and started to count them. "No, two people are missing."

"Who's missing?" Cheng Xiao said and looked them over.

"Qin Fen and Mubo," Jeffrey spoke up. Right then the door slammed open and Qin Fen stumbled in, dragging Mubo – who was looking kind of flustered – in with him.

"Sorry we're late, Teachers," Qin Fen said and bowed. Mubo bowed as well, before they went to stand with the rest of the trainees. Some were snickering at them and Yanjun rolled his eyes. They were the least discreet of them all. Except for maybe Ling Chao and Mu Ziyang.

"Now that everyone is here, we have prepared a game for you!" Cheng Xiao said and clapped her hands together.

"We're going to play truth and dare," Jieqiong grinned. The reactions from the trainees were very different. Some looked excited, like Zhou Rui and Ling Chao, while others looked straight down mortified, like Xiao Gui for some reason. Yanjun would've thought that he'd like to play a game like this. For himself he was kinda excited, this could be interesting. He looked over to Zhangjing to see his reaction. The older trainee had a thoughtful expression and Yanjun wondered what that meant.

"So, let's make a big circle and sit down," Cheng Xiao instructed, and sat down on the floor. The trainees immediately shuffled around until they were all seated in a big circle.

"Now, I will start," Cheng Xiao said and stood up. She put down a bottle in the middle of the circle and spun it.

The game started with a dance-off between Ding Zeren and Chaoze, which started a cheering match between the Banana trainees and the Yuehua trainees – which was a little uneven since Yuehua had twice as many trainees left. But Yanjun, Zhangjing, and Dinghao did their best to cheer on their leader.

After that it continued with a few innocent turns like Jieqiong having to kiss Cheng Xiao on the cheek, Justin being dared to hold Chengcheng's hand for the rest of the game and Zhou Rui being forced to act cute to his big unwillingness.

But then it took a sharp turn for the worst when Zhou Rui dared Xukun to dance to seduce Ziyi. Yanjun was kind of impressed by Ziyi who managed to act almost casual even though Xukun was more or less in his lap doing hip rolls. The only thing that betrayed him where the fact that his face was beet red and his eyes didn't seem to be able to stay still.

When it was Xiao Gui's turn to be seduced by Zhu Xingjie he didn't do as well. He bolted from the room when Xingjie got to close. The other trainees looked surprised after him.

"Well, that was awkward," Zhangjing commented.

"Yeah, I think Bu Fan feels bad," Yanjun said and looked over to the giant trainee who was the one who'd given Xingjie the dare.

Xingjie was standing in the middle of the circle, looking after Xiao Gui. He suddenly took up the bottle and spun it quickly. It stopped at Jeffrey who jumped when Xingjie urgently said:

"Truth or dare. Come on, we don't have all day."

"Truth," Jeffrey squeaked.

"Who's your favorite trainee?" Xingjie asked before he ran out of the room, most likely going after Xiao Gui. Jeffrey stared dumbly after him. 

"Should we go check on them?" Yanchen asked carefully.

"No, let them figure it out between themselves," Cheng Xiao said and waved her hand. She and Jieqiong didn't seem very worried.

"Let's continue the game. Jeffrey, answer the question," Jieqiong said. After that, they went back to some more innocent dares. Until the bottle stopped on Yanjun.

Yanjun looked up at Han Mubo who'd spun the bottle and gave him a confident smile.

"Truth or dare?" several of the trainees shouted.

"Dare," Yanjun said immediately. He wasn't too afraid. What was the worst Mubo could come up with?

Mubo leaned forward, a mischievous look in his eyes that Yanjun never saw before and he suddenly felt a bit nervous when Mubo shifted his gaze from him to Zhangjing beside him.

"I want you to feed Zhangjing," Mubo grinned and got up.

"What?" Yanjun said.

"Mubo-ge," Zhangjing whined and hid his face in Yanjun's shoulder. Mubo paid them no mind.

The older trainee came back with a piece of cake on a plate and gave it to Yanjun. Yanjun looked from the plate up to Mubo, who looked smug.

"You didn't give me a spoon or anything?"

"Get creative," was Mubo's only answer before he went back to his place beside Qin Fen who looked like he didn't know if he should be proud or ashamed.

Yanjun turned around so he was facing Zhangjing. His heart was beating like crazy. Damn you, Han Mubo.

"You okay with this?" he asked the shorter. The look Zhangjing gave him was determined. He nodded.

"Well then," Yanjun said and took up some cake with his fingers and held them out to Zhangjing. His heart almost stopped beating when he felt Zhangjing's lips against his fingers. Then the older poked his tongue out and _licked_ his fingers.

_Holy fuck._

"The whole piece," Mubo said from somewhere to his left but Yanjun barely registered it, his focus completely on Zhangjing. The other trainees howled.

"Yeah, yeah," he mumbled and took up some more cake. Zhangjing immediately licked it up.

"Seriously, there are kids present," Zhengting chided, sounding scandalized. Zhangjing just grinned and kept his eyes on Yanjun, who couldn't keep his eyes from Zhangjing's mouth.

"Blame Mubo," Zhangjing said and licked some chocolate off his lips. The tips of his ears were red but he continued to eat the cake Yanjun fed him without seeming embarrassed.

Yanjun, on the other hand, was having trouble keeping his composure. Every lick from Zhangjing's tongue sent shivers through his body. 

This was bad. Very, very bad. Now he kind of understood why Xiao Gui had bolted when Xingjie had danced for him. The feeling of Zhangjing's lips and tongue against his fingers were almost too much.

With the last piece of cake, Zhangjing took Yanjun's fingers into his mouth and sucked. Yanjun just managed to stop a moan to escape from his lips. Zhangjing let go and gave him an almost embarrassed smile. So _now_ he was embarrassed?!

"Um, I think you broke Yanjun?" Chaoze said after a while when Yanjun had made no move to get up and continue the game.

"Hey, Lin Yanjun," Zhangjing said and poked Yanjun. Yanjun just blinked at him. "It's your turn to spin the bottle."

"Uhu," Yanjun said unintelligently. He shook his head. ‘Snap out of it, you're embarrassing yourself', he told himself. He tried to grin his usual carefree grin.

"Yes, of course."

He got up and thanked all the gods that his legs didn't give in, because he felt seriously weak. He spun the bottle before he got back and sat down beside Zhangjing who gave him a smile. Yanjun snapped his eyes away from Zhangjing's lips before his brain could get any ideas.

The bottled stopped on Dinghao who looked mortified.

"I don't trust you, Lin Yanjun!" he exclaimed before anyone even got the chance to ask, "truth or dare?" 

"Just pick truth or dare," Yanjun said and reached over Zhangjing so he could slap Dinghao on the arm.

Dinghao looked around the room and suddenly he looked determined, like he'd been challenged. "Dare."

"You sure about that?" Yanjun teased, feeling better when he could focus on teasing Dinghao instead of thinking about Zhangjing's lips and... No, stop, don't go there.

"You are a terrible friend," Dinghao pouted, but he didn't change his answer.

"Too bad Xiao Gui isn't here still," Yanjun grinned and Dinghao hit him. "Fine, fine, I'll be nice. Just give everyone a hug."

Dinghao froze. "Everyone?" His eyes darted over to where the Yuehua trainees are seated.

"Everyone," Yanjun confirmed.

Dinghao grumbled something that sounded like: "Stupid Lin Yanjun… the worst friend… he can go stick is fingers in Zhangjing's mouth again… ew…"

Dinghao started with hugging Zhangjing and then Yanjun. Then he continued around the room. Some hugs looked more comfortable, while some are just awkward (but then Jeffrey was always awkward) and when Dinghao had to hug Bu Fan it looked like he might faint. But as everyone knew Bu Fan was just a big puppy so he happily pulled Dinghao in and almost crushed him before Yue Yue could save him. Yanjun was truly enjoying this dare.

Dinghao got more hesitant the closer he got to Xinchun. It looked like Zhengting whispered something to Dinghao before letting him go. Then it was Xinchun's turn. Dinghao stopped in front of him with a slight pout.

"How much do you bet that he will chicken out?" Zhangjing suddenly breathed in Yanjun's ear and he barely managed to stop himself from jumping.

"I have faith in our little Dinghao," Yanjun grinned. Zhangjing smiled his gummy smile and leaned his head at Yanjun's shoulder. Yanjun tried to not freak out. 

"That's unusually nice of you," Zhangjing teased.

"Hey, I'm always nice."

"Oh, looks like you were right." Yanjun looked up to see Dinghao being embraced by Xinchun.

"So, what do I win?" he mused. 

"Anything you want," came Zhangjing's answer and Yanjun's heart skipped a beat. He hated that Zhangjing could say stuff like that so casually.

"Anything, huh?"

"Anything. So think about it carefully."

Dinghao was finally done with his dare. He seemed a bit unfocused and kept glancing back at Xinchun as he spun the bottle. It stopped at Ling Chao.

"Dare," the youngest Qin trainee said before anyone got a chance to ask. His smile is cocky, and he raises his chin in a challenge to Dinghao. Beside him, Yue Yue shook his head and Ziyang laughed.

Somethings changed in Dinhao's look. "Fine, if that's how you like it. I dare you to kiss Ziyang."

Several of the trainees gasped and if Yanjun wasn't mistaken it looked like Jieqiong and Cheng Xiao high fived each other discreetly. Ling Chao just smirked as he straddled Ziyang's lap and promptly started making out with him.

Zhangjing hid his face against Yanjun's shoulder as they laughed at Dinghao's shocked expression.

"Oh my god, you guys!" Zhengting yelled when Ling Chao and Ziyang made no move to stop their kissing. "Yue Yue, please control your children!"

"Don't you think I tried? There's no stopping them," Yue Yue answered with a shrug. Bu Fan eventually dragged Ling Chao off Ziyang, to everyone's relief.

"Please control yourself," Yue Yue scolded them, but he didn't sound too convincing. He just seemed done.

"It was a dare, I'm just playing the game," Ling Chao countered and winked at Dinghao who looked like he was about to explode.

"Maybe we should stop playing?" Xukun suggested carefully. Cheng Xiao and Jieqiong exchanged a look. 

"Yes, let's stop there," Cheng Xiao finally said.

"This was fun!" Jieqiong smiled. Some of the trainees looked like they didn't agree with her, particularly those who had gotten the worst dares. "But it's late, so time for bed!"

"I need to talk to you," Yanjun said to Zhangjing as soon the trainees started to scatter. He had some questions he needed answers to. Like, what the hell that had been?

"Okay?" Zhangjing said as Yanjun pulled him to his feet and dragged him out of the room. He led them to an empty hallway.

"What was that?" he asked straight away. He'd never been one to beat around the bush.

"What was what?" Zhangjing wondered, even if he looked like he knew exactly what Yanjun was asking.

"That," Yanjun said and held up the hand he'd used to feed Zhangjing. He could still feel the lingering feeling of the other's lips on them.

The older laughed nervously. "Call it payback for all the times you jokingly flirted with me."

Yanjun stared at him. "You think I been joking when I was flirting with you?"

"Yes? Obviously?" Zhangjing said and raised his eyebrows. "You flirt with everyone. And anything. You once flirted with a trashcan, Lin Yanjun."

"But not the same way I flirt with you," Yanjun said, shocked that all his flirting had gone unnoticed.

"Wait, are you telling me that you actually meant to flirt with me?" Zhangjing said disbelievingly. "Wait. Wait a minute. Is this how you confess to me?!"

"I've been trying to confess to you for months, seriously, You Zhangjing," Yanjun sighed and slapped himself over the forehead.

"This is a terrible confession!" Zhangjing said and hit him repeatedly. "You are the worst, Lin Yanjun." He tried to look angry, but Yanjun could see the smile that tugged at the elder's lips.

Yanjun caught Zhangjing's wrist and locked his eyes on him. Zhangjing gulped.

"Even though you're dense as a brick wall, I do really like you, You Zhangjing," Yanjun said seriously with a small smile. "How's that for a confession?"

"You could've left out the part with me being dense as a brick wall," Zhangjing deadpanned. "So still a terrible confession."

"Why do I like you?" Yanjun complained and dropped Zhangjing's wrist.

"I ask myself the same thing every day," Zhangjing said.

It took Yanjun a couple of seconds to understand what the other meant, but then: "Wait, was that a confession?" He stared at Zhangjing with open mouth.

"Yes, stupid."

"And you called my confession terrible?"

"Yes," Zhangjing laughed and put his head against Yanjun's chest. Yanjun immediately put his arms around the shorter and pulled him closer.

"I really like you, You Zhangjing," he whispered in the other's ear. "I think you are amazing, talented, smart, funny and too cute for this world."

"Oh my god…" Zhangjing whined. He lifted his head so he could look up at Yanjun, their faces just inches apart. He was smiling widely. "You're so cheesy."

Yanjun pouted. "There's literally no pleasing you."

"Kiss me, Lin Yanjun, and I will be pleased forever."

Yanjun snorted. He put a hand on Zhangjing's cheek and the older leaned into the touch. Then he leaned in and pressed his lips against Zhangjing's. The kiss was kind of awkward since neither of them could stop smiling, but in Yanjun's mind, it was still perfect.

"Should we tell the others?" Yanjun asked when they finally broke apart.

"I'm guessing that they already know, at least Chaoze and Dinghao," Zhangjing said, still smiling. He didn't seem to be able to stop. "I actually think they might have a bet going on."

"What?!"

 

As it turned out, they did have a bet going on.

"Yes!" Chaoze said and pumped his fist in the air. "I have to call Zhixie and tell him that he totally lost."

"Wait, even the others were in on this?"

"Duh," Dinghao said, "This has been going on since before we got to this show. Zhixie and Honglin actually had some faith in you guys and thought you would figure it out sooner. Maotong betted that you'd never figure it out, both of you being too dense."

"Ouch, thanks for the confidence, Maotong," Yanjun said. Chaoze was doing a happy dance, being the winner of the bet.

"You guys are the worst," Zhangjing told them. Chaoze and Dinghao just shrugged and high fived each other.

"But we are truly happy for you guys," Chaoze said and put his arms around the two of them, somewhat awkwardly around Yanjun since he was so much taller.

"Yes. But please don't be disgusting now," Dinghao added.

"What, you mean like this?" Yanjun said with a teasing smile before he pulled Zhangjing in and placed a kiss on his lips. He would never get tired of doing that. Zhangjing smiled at him, eyes shining. Then he pulled Yanjun down for another kiss.

"Oh, come on!" Dinghao complained. Yanjun and Zhangjing just laughed.

"You know, if they were bad before, they might be even worse now," Chaoze sighed, but he seemed genuinely happy for them at least.

 

"You're a real softie, aren't you?" Zhangjing teased when they were lying in their sleeping bags and Yanjun pulled him closer.

"Only for you," Yanjun winked and Zhangjing blushed.

"Oh my god, you can't say stuff like that. My heart wasn't ready," Zhangjing said and hid his face against Yanjun's neck. Yanjun placed a kiss at the top of his head.

"Be prepared for a lot of pick-up lines and cheesy compliments," Yanjun teased. "I'm never gonna get tired of your pretty, blushing face." Zhangjing just groaned and hit him on the shoulder.

"Can you please stop, people are trying to sleep and you're being disgusting," Dinghao complained from beside them.

"I will throw you out in the hallway if you don't shut up," Chaoze added with his leader's voice, meaning that he really meant what he said.

"Sorry," Yanjun said and wrapped his arms tighter around his smaller… boyfriend?

"Are we boyfriends?" he whispered to Zhangjing. They hadn't discussed it before going back to the others. 

"Yes, dummy, we are."

"Good."

"Now sleep before Chaoze yells at us again."

"Yes, dear."

Zhangjing kicked him, but Yanjun didn't mind. He just pulled the shorter closer and kissed him again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Zhangjun is a blessing to this world.
> 
> And can you tell that I love Lu Dinghao with all my heart? He's 100% the funniest character to write, I love my extra boy. I love him so much that the next chapter probably gonna be about him and Xinchen (all hail sunshine boy and minion boy)
> 
> Kudos and comments make my day, and you are very welcome to come and scream at me/with me on tumblr @slytherinspacecat


	2. Xinhao

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lu Dinghao is not in love with Huang Xinchun. They have a feud, thank you very much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: it's been so long since i posted the first chapter...  
> Me @ me: chill, it's only been a little over two weeks, that's nothing
> 
> I've been super busy the last couple of weeks, it feels like I haven't been able to write in forever. BUT I went to Berlin with my bestie to see GOT7!!! We got to see Jackson?? It was amazing?? I think I died a couple of times, like when Jaebum smirked and winked and my heart literally stopped. And Mark bias wrecked me so hard I will never recover. NEVER RECOVER. Uuuuuh.
> 
> But now I finally have the next chapter finished, it feels like I've had it almost done for so so long. It feels a bit choppy, but I don't know how to fix so I just thought "fuck it, I'll just post it anyway". So here, have the mess that is Lu Dinghao!
> 
> (also, the beta is just made by me this time, bc my darling beta reader isn't feeling too well today, and since patience isn't one of my virtues, i'll post it without her input. so let me know if you find any big mistakes! and i'll probably just edit it later when she has read it through)

 

 

Dinghao had been surprised, to say the least, when Cheng Xiao and Jieqiong had announced that they were going to have a sleepover in the training room. But he thought that it might be fun. Staying positive and all that. The food helped as well. He might not be a foodie like Zhangjing – who practically sprinted towards the food – but it was food, it was nice, he needed it to live and all that.

What had surprised him even more – and scared him, to be honest – was when Bu Fan suddenly roared "FOOD FIGHT!" and threw a cake at Xiao Gui. Between Bu Fan and Xiao Gui, Dinghao didn't know who scared him the most.

All of the trainees immediately started to throw food around. Chaoze hit Dinghao with a piece of cake and he wailed while Chaoze laughed.

"Chaoze, why?!"

"For all the times you annoyed the hell out of me," Chaoze grinned, looking uncanny much like Yanjun for a second. 

"Rude, I'm an angel," Dinghao retorted, highly offended. Chaoze just rolled his eyes and darted away when Lou Zibo tried to hit him with a donut.

And speaking of Yanjun, this was a good time a good time to get back at him for all the awful cold jokes he told all the time. Dinghao picked up a potato and threw it at Yanjun, who unfortunately managed to skip to the side. But before he could try again, he kind of lost focus on his goal. Because when Yanjun stepped to the side, Dinghao's eyes met Xinchun's.

Dinghao immediately looked away. Since they did ‘Loving you' together, Dinghao's thoughts had gone to the other trainee more times than he would like to confess. He'd tried to convince himself that it was because he still was upset over Xinchun spitting water on him. That had been so rude.

So, this was the perfect time for revenge.

"Take that, Huang Xinchun!" Dinghao roared and jumped at Xinchun with a piece of chocolate cake in his hand.

Unfortunately, the taller trainee managed to step to the side so instead of hitting him, Dinghao hit poor Quanzhe on the shoulder.

"Hey!" Quanzhe exclaimed, looking offended.

"I'm sorry," Dinghao said and held up his hands. "I was trying to hit Xinchun."

Xinchun gave him a long look that sent a shiver down Dinghao's spine. Not good. Xinchun took up some cake from Quanzhe's shoulder – who was still moping even though Dinghao apologized – and stepped closer to Dinghao who backed.

"Can't we just forget this?" Dinghao pleaded. "I didn't hit you."

"But you hit Quanzhe," Xinchun said and kept advancing.

Dinghao glanced over Xinchun's shoulder at Quanzhe who gave him a smug look. Damn little hamster.

Suddenly he stopped. He'd hit the wall. Xinchun didn't stop until he was right in front of him and placed his free hand beside Dinghao's head.

Dinghao gulped. They were very near and Xinchun smiled at him.

"Go, Xinchun!" Quanzhe cheered. "Defend Yuehua's honor!"

Xinchun raised his hand with cake on and put it in front of Dinghao's face. Dinghao thought that he should move, but with Xinchun so close his body didn't want to respond. Xinchun poked him on the nose with chocolate and Dinghao blinked at him.

"Cute," Xinchun smiled.

"What?" Dinghao said, his brain not responding properly. Had Xinchun just called him cute?

Xinchun just smiled wider and started to draw something on Dinghao's cheeks. Dinghao just stared at him. He could feel the heat rising on his cheeks.

Xinchun finally pulled away. "Done," he said with a grin. And then he winked – _winked_ – to Dinghao before he turned and walked away.

Dinghao felt weak in the knees as he stumbled from the wall. What the hell, Xinchun?

He stumbled over to Chaoze and slumped over his shoulder.

"Chaoze," he whined. "I'm defeated."

Chaoze glanced over his shoulder at his older friend. "Why do you have a heart on your face?" he asked curiously.

Dinghao looked up. "A heart?"

"Yeah," Chaoze moved Dinghao's face so he saw his other cheek. "And what looks like 'I'm sorry'. Whoever wrote it has terrible handwriting."

"Well, it is written in chocolate," Dinghao found himself defending Xinchun. "At least it's readable."

Chaoze gave him a weird look. "Okay. But who did it?"

"Huang Xinchun. We have a feud."

Chaoze shrugged Dinghao off his shoulders so he could look at him properly.

"You have a feud?" he said disbelievingly. Dinghao nodded gravely. Chaoze shook his head. Sometimes he wondered what was going on in the elder's head.

"Why?

"I don't know," Dinghao pouted. "I didn't do anything, and then he spat water on me."

"He did what?" Chaoze exclaimed.

"Spat Nongfu Vitamin Spring Water on me," Dinghao said slowly. "We were playing a game where you, no, just ask Yanjun, he was there. I don't wanna relive it."

Chaoze just shook his head. "I highly doubt you have a feud. The guy drew a heart and an apology on your face."

"Yes, with chocolate. Pay attention, please. We have a feud."

"Well, he's staring at you now with a stupid smile on his face," Chaoze said and nodded over to the other side of the room. "Feud, right…"

"Quick, hide me!" Dinghao yelled with a whisper and hid behind the shorter's back.

"Why are you like this?" Chaoze sighed. "Why have all the sensible ones left me? Why am I stuck with you, Zhangjing and Yanjun?"

"Where is Zhangjing and Yanjun by the way?" Dinghao asked from behind Chaoze's back.

"I have no idea. I don't know if I want to know actually."

"Oh, do you think…?"

"Nope! Don't want to think about it!"

Dinghao wiggled his eyebrows at Chaoze who hit him on the shoulder. Right then Zhangjing and Yanjun emerged from underneath one of the tables, of all places.

"Where have you two been?" Chaoze asked suspiciously.

"Not hiding," Yanjun said with a wink. Zhangjing laughed and hid his face in Yanjun's shoulder. So that was totally not suspicious or anything. Those two always seemed to have some sort of internal joke going on.

"Okay…"

"This was fun," Cheng Xiao said suddenly and clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. She and Jieqiong told them to go get washed up and get their sleepover things and the trainees obediently left the room (after Cheng Xiao had chased Jieqiong out) 

"How are you two clean?" Dinghao complained over Yanjun and Zhangjing on their way to the dorms. He was more or less covered in food and his face felt sticky of chocolate.

"Why do you have a chocolate heart on your cheek?" Zhangjing asked curiously, without answering Dinghao's question.

"I tried to get back on Xinchen for spitting water at me that one time," Dinghao pouted. "But he got the upper hand, and this happened." He pointed at his face.

"You know he's taller than you, right?" Chaoze said and patted Dinghao on the shoulder.

"You could've helped me," Dinghao pouted. "Quanzhe was helping him. It was two against one."

"Nah, that's no fun."

"At least he drew a heart," Yanjun chimed in. "And not a dick."

Dinghao couldn't agree more, at least Xinchun didn't draw anything terrible. Small mercies.

 

They arrived at the dorms and Yanjun left them to go to his room. Dinghao didn't miss the lingering look Zhangjing sent after him and he shared a knowing look with Chaoze before he immediately went to dig out his camera from where ever he'd put it. He finally found it underneath his socks of all places.

"Can you take a picture of this?" Dinghao asked Chaoze with a gesture at his chocolate covered face and held out the camera for him to take.

"Oh, want to save the sweet memories?" Chaoze said a wiggled his eyebrows.

"No!" Dinghao exclaimed and hit Chaoze on the arm. "I just want to save it as evidence of our feud. If anyone ever doubts that Xinchun is out to get me."

"If by get you, you mean get in your pants, then yes," Zhangjing said from his bed and Dinghao gasped in disgrace.

"Zhangjing, please," Chaoze sighed, done with them both.

"Yes, Zhangjing, please! Can't you see that this is a declaration of war?" Dinghao said loudly, pointing at his face. Chaoze sighed again.

"Yanjun is a bad influence on me?" Zhangjing said and tried to look innocent.

"Don't even try, we both know you're way worse. It's more likely the other way around," Chaoze said and pointed at Zhangjing who just grinned.

"Can we get back to me now?" Dinghao said and waved his camera in front of Chaoze. "I still need to save the evidence."

"You guys are the most self-centered bunch I've ever had the unluck to meet," Chaoze shook his head as he took the camera from Dinghao.

"Yeah, same," Yanjun suddenly said as he showed up at the door, taking them all in.

"You have no right to speak, Lin Yanjun," Chaoze said and pointed with the camera at him.

Yanjun just laughed. "I was going to ask if you were ready to head back, but it seems like you're busy."

"Yes, we're very busy, please leave," Dinghao said and placed Chaoze in front of him so he could take the picture. He just wanted it done so he could go and wash his face, which was feeling stickier by the minute.

"I'll go with you," Zhangjing smiled and got up. Dinghao rolled his eyes at the way Yanjun's whole face lit up. "See you guys later, don't take too much time."

"We won't if Chaoze just can take the damn picture," Dinghao said and Zhangjing and Yanjun laughed as they left.

"Just stand still then, will you?" Chaoze said, a bit annoyed. Dinghao pouted and Chaoze took the picture. "So, done. Now go wash your face while I change."

Dinghao rushed to the bathroom, ready to finally get the sticky chocolate of his face. But when he stood in front of the mirror he stopped. He remembered how carefully Xinchun had drawn on his face, and the way he's smiled when he called him cute.

Dinghao could feel his face burning and he quickly put his head under the faucet. Let's not go there.

"When you're done drowning yourself, can we go?" Chaoze said from the door. Dinghao spluttered something incoherent. "Yes, I can understand you completely," Chaoze added.

After drying himself of Dinghao glared at Chaoze who just met his glare unfazed. Dinghao guessed he was used to it by now.

"I'm just going to change and pack my things."

Finally, they were out the door. And ran headfirst into no one else than Huang Xinchun and the rest of the Yuehua boys. Dinghao could feel two hands clasp his shoulders to steady him. He looked up and met Xinchun's amused face.

"Heading back?" he asked.

"Yes. But not with you!" Dinghao said and pulled free from Xinchun's hold and started to run down the hall. "You can't win over me, Huang Xinchun!" 

"What?" Xinchun said, staring dumbly after Dinghao.

"He thinks you have a feud," Chaoze explained and patted the confused Xinchun on the shoulder.

"A feud?" Xinchun echoed as Justin and Chengcheng almost toppled over laughing. Zhengting patted his other arm, while he tried to suppress a smile.

 

Dinghao felt a little bit stupid after running off, but it was nothing he could do about it now. Chaoze was probably going to scold him over it later, but oh well. He was used to that. He arrived back at the training room where about half of the trainees had gathered back. At the back of the room, he spotted Zhangjing and Yanjun and immediately made his way over to them. He slumped down beside Zhangjing and rested his head against the shorter's shoulder.

"What have you done now?" Zhangjing asked, a bit amused.

"Why do you always think that I have done something?" Dinghao wined.

"Because Chaoze just arrived looking ready to hit you," Yanjun grinned and pointed over to the door where Chaoze just had arrived with the Yuehua boys. Dinghao avoided looking at Xinchun, even if he could feel the taller's gaze on him.

"Real immature, Dinghao," Chaoze said as he stopped in front of them with his hands on his hips. Dinghao just pouted and hid his face deeper in Zhangjing's shoulder.

"I talked with Xinchun," Chaoze continued. "He was kind of hurt that you thought that you two had a feud."

"He's the one that started it!" Dinghao pouted, not wanting to admit that he might have been wrong. Chaoze frowned.

"Is this about the water spitting incident?" Yanjun asked, looking curiously between Dinghao and Chaoze. Dinghao nodded and Yanjun threw his head back laughing.

"Poor, Xinchun, having to deal with your overdramatic ass," Zhangjing grinned, and Dinghao felt the need for new friends. The ones he got was rubbish.

Then Cheng Xiao and Jieqiong came back and clapped their hands to get everyone's attention. Zhangjing pulled an unwilling Dinghao to his feet and dragged him along over to where the trainees were gathering in front of the two dance mentors. Dinghao ignored the looks he could feel Xinchun send his way.

"Is everyone back?" Jieqiong asked and started to count them. "No, two people are missing."

"Who's missing?" Cheng Xiao said and looked them over.

"Qin Fen and Mubo," Jeffrey spoke up. Right then the door slammed open and Qin Fen stumbled in, dragging Mubo – who was looking kind of flustered – in with him.

"Sorry we're late, Teachers," Qin Fen said and bowed. Mubo bowed as well before they went to stand with the rest of the trainees. Some were snickering at them.

"Now that everyone is here, we have prepared a game for you!" Cheng Xiao said and clapped her hands together.

"We're going to play truth and dare," Jieqiong grinned and Dinghao shuddered. Jieqiong's grin gave him an uneasy feeling in his stomach. He glanced over at Xinchen but quickly turned away when he caught the other one's eyes.

"So, let's make a big circle and sit down," Cheng Xiao instructed, and sat down on the floor. The trainees immediately shuffled around until they were all seated in a big circle. Dinghao had made sure that he was seated between Chaoze and Zhangjing. The Yuehua trainees were seated a few seats away, which means that Dinghao didn't have to look at Xinchun all the time, which was a relief.

"Now, I will start," Cheng Xiao said and stood up. She put down a bottle in the middle of the circle and spun it.

It stopped at Ding Zeren. All the other trainees cheered, and the Yuehua boys tackled him in excitement. Cheng Xiao laughed.

"Truth or dare?" she asked.

Zeren looked around the circle until he finally with a cocky smile said: "Dare."

Cheng Xiao made a thinking face. "I want you to… have a dance-off with…"

"Ooooh," the trainee's said.

"Lin Chaoze."

"Bring it on, Little Superman," Zeren smirked as he got up and pointed at Chaoze.

"Take him down," Dinghao said encouragingly.

"Stop starting feuds with the Yuehua trainees," Zhangjing said to Dinghao. "But yes, go slay."

Chaoze rolled his eyes at them as he got up. "Of course, the little Yuehua trainee won't know what hit him." With that he made a spin, so he ended up right in front of Zeren with a challenging tilt of his chin.

Cheng Xiao clapped her hands, delighted. "Jieqiong, will you put on some music?"

Chaoze and Zeren circled each other as the other trainee's shouted encouraging words to them. Suddenly the music came on.

"Ding Zeren, you go first!" Cheng Xiao shouted. Chaoze backed away to give Zeren place in the middle of the circle.

Dinghao lost count of how many times Chaoze and Zeren spun around each other. He almost felt a bit dizzy, but he kept cheering Chaoze on. He could hear Xinchun's voice over the others as he cheered on his company member.

"And the winner is… both!" Cheng Xiao shouted and lifted both Chaoze and Zeren's arms when the competition was over. "Sorry, I couldn't choose." She laughed and hugged them both. Chaoze and Zeren looked a bit flustered.

"Now it's your turn, Zeren," Jieqiong said and gave the bottle to Zeren. 

Dinghao had to admit that it was fun to play truth and dare. As long as the bottle didn't stop on him it was fun watching the other trainees being flustered and embarrassed. He could have lived without the mental pictures of Yanjun feeding Zhangjing with his fingers thought. He was going to have nightmares of that.

But then things turned from fun to hell when the bottle stopped at him and it was Yanjun who had spun it.  This was bad, Yanjun was probably gonna give him the worst question or dare, just because he could.  

"I don't trust you, Lin Yanjun!" he exclaimed before anyone even got the chance to ask "truth or dare?".

"Just pick truth or dare," Yanjun said and reached over Zhangjing so he could slap Dinghao on the arm. Dinghao glared at him before his eyes trailed over the room. All of the other trainees looked excited, but when he met Xinchun's eyes, he had a funny look on his face that Dinghao couldn't read. He suddenly felt challenged, he didn't want Xinchun to think he was a coward.

"Dare," he said, and he could feel Chaoze and Zhangjing looking surprised. Yanjun on the other hand…

"You sure about that?" he teased.

"You are a terrible friend," Dinghao pouted, but he didn't change his answer. He wasn't a coward.

"Too bad Xiao Gui isn't here still," Yanjun grinned and Dinghao hit him. That was low, he knew that Dinghao was afraid of him. "Fine, fine, I'll be nice. Just give everyone a hug."

Dinghao froze. "Everyone?" His eyes darted over to where the Yuehua trainees were seated.

"Everyone," Yanjun confirmed.

Dinghao grumbled something that sounded like: "Stupid Lin Yanjun… the worst friend… he can go stick is fingers in Zhangjing's mouth again… ew…"

Dinghao started with hugging Zhangjing and then Yanjun. Zhangjing patted him encouragingly on the back and gave him a smile. Yanjun just smirked and hugged Dinghao unnecessarily tight. Stupid Yanjun.

As he continued around the room, some of the hugs weren't so bad. It wasn't like he disliked hugging or anything, but he definitely could have skipped some hugs. Like Jeffrey. Damn, that boy was beyond awkward.

And when he stopped in front of the Qin trainees, it felt like his heart stopped beating. Because they were all so tall and scary-looking. Especially Bu Fan.

"Don't be afraid," Yue Yue told him as he hugged him. Dinghao just managed to smile weakly before Bu Fan dragged him in.

"Okay, let him go now, you're crushing him," Yue Yue chided Bu Fan when he made no notion of letting Dinghao go. Dinghao gave Yue Yue a small smile as thanks as Bu Fan let him go.

As he came to the Yuehua trainees his heart had definitely stopped beating. He refused to glance over to Xinchun, trying not to be affected by the other trainee (he failed miserably though).

"Relax, it will be okay," Zhengting told him as he hugged him. Dinghao wondered if he knew something he didn't. Because it didn't feel like it was going to be okay. He didn't want to hug Xinchun (‘yes, you do,' his stupid heart said, but he didn't listen).    

As he stopped in front of Xinchun he pouted slightly. Xinchun gave him a smile and opened up his arms and Dinghao's stomach fluttered. He gingerly leaned in, trying to ignore the butterflies, but it didn't help when Xinchun pulled him in closer.

"Hi," Xinchun whispered in his ear and Dinghao could feel his heart skip a beat.

"Hi," he answered, trying to sound annoyed.

"Sorry for before."

Dinghao just hummed, unsure how to answer. He wasn't ready to forgive Xinchun. Or so he told himself anyway. Xinchun hugged him tighter before he let go and Dinghao stumbled from his arms. He suddenly felt cold without Xinchun's arms around him.

He didn't dare to meet Xinchun's eyes before he moved on. When he arrived at Chaoze, who was the last person he needed to hug, he collapsed in his arms.

"Uuuugh," he said and Chaoze just shook his head and patted him on his back.

"You survived," Chaoze said and tried to get Dinghao to get up.

"Doubtfully," Dinghao answered before he finally got up. He still had to spin the bottle. He tried not to look at Xinchun, but he found himself stealing glances at the other trainee constantly. Why had he apologized? And he didn't want to admit that he'd enjoyed the hug. 

He spun the bottle and it stopped on Ling Chao.

"Dare," the youngest Qin trainee said before anyone got a chance to ask. His smile was cocky, and he raised his chin in a challenge to Dinghao. Beside him, Yue Yue shook his head and Ziyang laughed.

Dinghao felt very tired and just done with everyone, especially Xinchun and the confusing feelings he felt regarding him, so Ling Chao's attitude made him somewhat lose it.

"Fine, if that's how you like it. I dare you to kiss Ziyang."

Several of the trainees gasped, but Dinghao couldn't seem to care. He wanted someone else to suffer with him. His plan backfired though when Ling Chao just smirked as he straddled Ziyang's lap and promptly started making out with him.

Several of the other trainees whistled and cheered and Zhou Rui quickly covered Zhenghao's eyes at the same time as Zhengting almost threw himself over Justin and Chengcheng to protect them. Dinghao just stared at the kissing couple with his mouth hanging open.

"Oh my god, you guys!" Zhengting yelled when Ling Chao and Ziyang made no move to stop their kissing. "Yue Yue, please control your children!"

"Don't you think I tried? There's no stopping them," Yue Yue answered with a shrug. Bu Fan eventually dragged Ling Chao off Ziyang, to everyone's relief.

"Please control yourself," Yue Yue scolded them, but he didn't sound too convincing. He just seemed done with them.

"It was a dare, I'm just playing the game," Ling Chao countered and winked at Dinghao who felt like shaking the younger trainee. What the hell Ling Chao?

Thankfully they stopped the game there before it got worse. Dinghao got a sour eye from Zhengting who seemed to blame him for Ling Chao's behavior. So rude. It wasn't his fault that the Qin trainees were a mess.

Dinghao got up and marched over to Ling Chao who was still seated on top of Ziyang. Ziyang poked Ling Chao to noticed him of Dinghao's presence and the younger turned around.

"Yes?" he smiled an angelic smile and Ziyang facepalmed.

"You know what you did," Dinghao said and pointed at him.

"I just performed the dare _you_ gave me," Ling Chao countered. Beside him Yue Yue pulled Bu Fan away, trying not to get involved. Ziyang, on the other hand, was kind of stuck underneath Ling Chao.

"Yes, to kiss. I meant like a little kiss or something," Dinghao said and gestured with his hands.

"You didn't specify, and I wanted to kiss my Yang-ge like this," Ling Chao said cheekily and Ziyang blushed. Dinghao shot the older a sour look. He had really made the situation better.

"Kiss, I said! Not a straight out make-out session!" Dinghao exclaimed. "I wanted it to be pure! Now you have damaged the kids for life! And you are just a kid!"

Ling Chao just shrugged with a grin while Ziyang hid his face between the younger's shoulder blades.

"Sorry, Dinghao, I'll talk to him," Ziyang mumbled and pulled Ling Chao in closer to his chest and shot Dinghao a smile over the younger's shoulder.

Dinghao was about to say something more when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and almost choked when he met Xinchun's eyes. The other gave him a smile.

"If you're done yelling at Ling Chao, can I talk to you?"

"No, I'm not done," Dinghao pouted and turned back to Ling Chao who gave him a matching pout.

"Oh, come on, Dinghao-ge, I promise to not do it again, now please go, I need to talk to my Yang-ge."

By those words Ziyang looked up, looking a bit alarmed. "Um…"

"Yeah, let them talk to each other," Xinchun agreed, his hand still on Dinghao's shoulder. "Come on."

Dinghao glared at the three of them. "Fine," he huffed. "But I don't have time for you either."

The last part he shot at Xinchun who's smile faltered. Dinghao chose to ignore the way his heart hated how he made Xinchun stop smiling. Instead, he just turned around and stamped over to Chaoze before Xinchun had a chance to say anything else and his heart made him change his mind.

Chaoze gave him a weird look when he slumped down beside him and put his head in his lap and took his hand and placed in on his head. Yanjun and Zhangjing seemed to have disappeared somewhere, but Dinghao didn't have the energy to care.

"Pet me," he begged Chaoze.

"What's wrong now?"

"Everything."

"So dramatic."

"Don't judge me," Dinghao pouted and sighed when Chaoze started to massage his scalp.

"Xinchun looks kinda sad," Chaoze commented like he was talking about the weather.

"I don't wanna know."

"Have it your way."

Chaoze didn't say anything more about Xinchun, thank god. It was bad enough that Dinghao didn't seem to be able to get him out of his head. The way his smile had faltered when Dinghao brushed him of played on repeat in his mind. He could also feel the looks Xinchun was sending his way, even if he refused to acknowledge them. 

Eventually, Yanjun and Zhangjing came back – hand in hand. That made Dinghao forget about Xinchun for a second as he shot up from Chaoze's lap and pointed at his two friends.

"Holy shit!"

"Language," Chaoze chided, but he also looked at Yanjun and Zhangjing as if Christmas had come early.

"Well, we have something to tell you," Zhangjing started, with a shy look at Yanjun, who blushed? Oh my _god_. Lin Yanjun was blushing!

"Fucking finally!" Dinghao exclaimed, ignoring the way Yanjun and Zhangjing cringed at his sound volume.

"Dinghao, please," Chaoze said. "But yes, fucking finally."

Dinghao and Chaoze grinned like two maniacs as Zhangjing filled them in on his and Yanjun's new relationship.

"Yes!" Chaoze said and pumped his fist in the air when Zhangjing was done. "I have to call Zhixie and tell him that he totally lost."

The bet regarding when – or if – their friends were going to realize their feelings for each other had been going on for almost a year. Dinghao had, unfortunately, had more faith in his friends than Chaoze, but that only meant that he lost the bet. It was really unbelievable how dense they were.

But seeing how happily disgusting they were with each other now, Dinghao almost wished that they been dense for a while longer. When they kissed he couldn't help but glance over to Xinchun, who was laughing at something Zeren had said, and Dinghao's heart clenched. He quickly turned away again when Xinchun looked up at met his eyes for a second.

"Oh, come on!" he complained when Zhangjing pulled Yanjun down for another kiss. This was going to be the worst. 

"You know, if they were bad before, they might be even worse now," Chaoze sighed, and Dinghao agreed to a hundred percent. 

 

Dinghao somehow managed to avoid Xinchun until they all went to bed. He was lying beside Chaoze, casting glances over to the pile – yes, pile – of Yuehua boys, both hoping that Xinchun would look his way and not. But it seemed like the other had finally gotten tired of trying to get Dinghao's attention, and he kind of missed it.

But he was just going to sleep and ignore the way his heart fluttered at the thought of the other boy, and hopefully, tomorrow would be better.

When they finally managed to stop Yanjun and Zhangjing from being disgusting, Dinghao drifted off into an uneasy sleep, with dreams filled with minions singing ‘Loving you'.

 

Dinghao wasn't sure what time it was when he woke up by someone shaking his shoulder lightly.

"Leave me alone," he mumbled and buried his face deeper into his pillow.

"Come on, Lu Dinghao," a voice said, sounding a bit annoyed. Dinghao's eyes shot open when he recognized it as Xinchun's. What the hell?

"Xinchun?" he said carefully. He could hear a huff from the other boy.

"Yes?"

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to understand you. Now scooch," Xinchun answered and put down his sleeping bag beside Dinghao.

Dinghao rolled over so he could look at Xinchun. "What time is it?" he whispered, still not completely awake and very confused over the fact that Xinchun was crawling down into his sleeping bag next to him.

"About 4 am."

"Why the hell are you awake?"

"I couldn't sleep."

"So you thought that you should wake me up and make me suffer as well?" Dinghao said sourly. So this was just a part of Xinchun's plan to get the upper hand in the feud.

"Well, since it's practically your fault, I thought why not," Xinchun deadpanned. Dinghao was about to exclaim something about the injustice, but Xinchun must have felt it coming because he pressed a hand over Dinghao's mouth before he could get a sound out.

"People are sleeping," Xinchun said as Dinghao's eyes bulged. "Please try to be quiet."

Dinghao nodded and only then did Xinchun remove his hand. Dinghao took a deep breath and glared at Xinchun. His heart was racing like crazy in his chest.

"Why do you think we have a feud?" Xinchun asked, suddenly sounding serious. Dinghao was a bit taken aback by the question.

"Because you do stuff like this. You spat water in my face, and then you drew with chocolate, also, on my face – do you have something against my face? – and now you wake me up in the middle of the night during my beauty sleep," Dinghao said, annoyed that he had to spell it out.

"I like your face," Xinchun finally said after blinking at Dinghao for a couple of moments.

"Are you making fun of me?" Dinghao said, blushing and still very annoyed. Why couldn't Xinchun leave him and his heart alone?

Xinchun sighed. "Why are you making this so difficult?"

"Me making things difficult?!" Dinghao exclaimed as quietly as he could and glared at Xinchun.

Xinchun rolled his eyes and moved closer. Dinghao swallowed as Xinchun locked his eyes on Dinghao's.   

"Lu Dinghao, I don't want to have a feud with you, I never wanted that. I'm sorry for the water spitting accident, I didn't mean to do it, but you were so cute I couldn't keep it in. I really like you."

Dinghao stared at Xinchun. Had he heard that right?

"What?"

Xinchun groaned and then he suddenly pulled Dinghao closer and pressed his lips against Dinghao's. The kiss was awkward and stiff and Dinghao didn't know how to respond. His brain seemed to be stuck on ‘I really like you'.

"I'm sorry," Xinchun said when he let go of Dinghao, who still hadn't made a move. "I shouldn't have kissed you just like that…"

Then something clicked inside Dinghao. Xinchun had just kissed him! And… and… _oh my god_. Xinchun was looking down, probably thinking that Dinghao didn't feel the same. Dinghao quickly reached out and put his hands on Xinchun's cheeks and pressed his lips against the other boy's. He could feel Xinchun's surprise and then smile against his lips as he kissed back.

"Oh my god…" Dinghao breathed when they broke the kiss. Xinchun just laughed. "Oh my god."

"You okay?"

"Am I okay?!" Dinghao said, maybe a bit too loud. " _Oh my god_."

"You're seriously gonna wake everyone up," Xinchun said and rolled his eyes, but he was still smiling and stroking Dinghao's cheek.

"You just admitted that you like me and then you kissed me, I'm allowed to be excited," Dinghao shot back.

"Fair enough," Xinchun said and pulled Dinghao in for another kiss. "Do you like me back?"

"Duh!" Dinghao said and squeezed Xinchun's cheeks. "Of course I like you."

Xinchun laughed and wrapped his arms around Dinghao, holding him tightly. "I'm glad. No more feud?"

"No more feud," Dinghao agreed, stroking Xinchun's soft hair. "I'm sorry for that."

"It's okay," Xinchun mumbled against his neck. "Let's sleep, I'm so tired."

"As I will be able to sleep now," Dinghao said dramatically. He meant it. His heart was still beating like crazy and he was trying to understand that this was real.

"Sleep, Dinghao," Xinchun said and squeezed him tighter.

"I can try," Dinghao sighed, not done being dramatic.

"Oh my god, just go the fuck to sleep," Chaoze suddenly hissed beside them. "I'm very happy for you, but god, it's in the middle of the damn night."

Both Dinghao and Xinchun jumped and then fell into a giddy laughter, hanging on to each other, which made Chaoze sigh deeply.

"Me and the lovestruck idiots left, someone please save me?"

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone pls save Chaoze. Imagine having to deal with Dinghao, Zhangjing, AND Yanjun *shakes my head*
> 
> I love Dinghao so so much. He's so extra. And even if the chapter feels a bit choppy, I'm still very pleased with some parts (yes, I think I'm hilarious) 
> 
> The next chapter will probably be about Xiao Gui and Xingjie, I think. Bc that's the one that I have most finish pages with. But we'll see. 
> 
> Until next time, hugs and kisses and thank you for reading, let me know what you think, even if it's just a keysmash! Jiayou!


	3. Xinggui

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How many beats can a heart skip before it stops completely? 
> 
> Being in love with his very handsome labelmate was going to send Xiao Gui to an early grave. His heart can't take it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *drumroll* Surprise! The next chapter is about Xinggui (literally nobody is surprised).
> 
> So this one is slightly shorter than the other two. But it's still a little over 4k words of xinggui niceness that I've missed (why is it so few xinggui fics? I don't get it?). 
> 
> (also, have you guys seen Nex7 new mv? My poor boys, who thought that woo woo woo skrr skrr was a good idea? I can't listen to it, seriously, I just laugh every time the refrain comes. But 'For you' is so beautiful though! Thank god for that)

 

 

Xiao Gui stared at the dance mentors disbelievingly. A sleepover? If they wanted to give them a surprise to reward them for all their hard work, he didn't think a sleepover was the best idea.

"We already share dorms, it's like a sleepover every night," he said out loud. But of course, no one listened.

"Be positive," Xingjie said beside him and put a hand on Xiao Gui's shoulder. Xiao Gui just muttered. He was tired and hungry, and it felt like Xingjie's hand was leaving a burning mark on his shoulder. 

"Yes, be positive," Yanchen agreed, boxy smile in place. Xiao Gui gave them a fake smile.

His mood quickly changed when he saw all the food. Now _that_ was a good surprise.

"See, there's the smile I wanted to see," Xingjie teased and Xiao Gui blushed slightly. He was never ready when Xingjie said stuff like that and it always made his heart skip a beat.

They all rushed to the tables with food when Cheng Xiao and Jieqiong gave their permission. Xiao Gui had never seen Zhangjing move so fast. They all started to stuff their faces. Or other people faces. It looked like Zhengting tried to feed both poor Quanzhe and Zhenghao at the same time.

"Here, try this," Xingjie said and tossed him a piece of bread. Xiao Gui knew it didn't mean anything, but he still got a warm feeling in his stomach every time Xingjie cared for him.

"Yes, try this as well," Bu Fan said with a sly smile and wiggled his eyebrows as he imitated Xingjie's tone and held out a cookie. Xiao Gui just glared at him and Bu Fan threw his head back laughing.

"Take this, Chengcheng!" Justin suddenly shouted right beside them. Xiao Gui turned around to see Chengcheng wipe frosting off his face. Then he took up a cupcake and threw it at Justin. Before it even happened, Xiao Gui could see that it was going to miss its target. And instead hit the unsuspecting Xingjie, since he hadn't cared to look up when Justin started shouting.

Xiao Gui was, of course, right.

Xingjie slowly turned around, his eyes set on his most terrifying glare. The one that made everyone wary of him. Xiao Gui didn't blame Chengcheng for freezing up, even though he thought he had deserved it. The back of Xingjie's head was smeared with frosting.  

"You are so dead, Chengcheng," Xingjie said and took up a piece of cake as he advanced on Chengcheng. Justin was already dying. Of laughter.

"You should probably run," Justin suggested to Chengcheng between laughs. Chengcheng immediately turned around and ran. But he didn't get far before Xingjie was over him and pushing the cake into his face. Xiao Gui was just about to cheer Xingjie on when Bu Fan suddenly roared beside him.

"FOOD-FIGHT!"

And then chucked a whole cake over Xiao Gui's head.

"WHAT THE FUCK, BU FAN?!" he yelled as cream and frosting blurred his vision. Xingjie turned around and laughed when he saw Xiao Gui's sorry state, and Xiao Gui felt utterly betrayed.

Bu Fan just laughed and ran when Xiao Gui started to hunt him down. He wanted Bu Fan's head on a plate. The tallest trainee hid behind Yue Yue, but if he thought that that was going to stop Xiao Gui he was mistaken.

"Save me, Lao Yue!" Bu Fan screeched as Xiao Gui jumped on him.

"Oh, no, you're on your own," Yue Yue said quickly and moved away, but he didn't get far before both Ziyang and Ling Chao attacked him.

Xiao Gui might have gotten the upper hand on Bu Fan for a second, but he quickly ran away when he was done with smearing frosting all over the elder's face. Because let's not forget that Bu Fan was ridiculously tall and could be quite scary if he wanted to.

Xiao Gui somehow ended up in the middle of the food fight. Well, it wasn't much of a surprise since he was really competitive. At one point he was standing back to back with Xingjie, fighting of Yuehua trainees and one very persistent Shengen. It was fun.

Somehow, he ended up on top of the table, throwing food in every direction. Xingjie was below him, grinning widely, and Xiao Gui couldn't help but match his grin when Xingjie looked up at him, happiness shining from him.

"Bring it on, Lil' ghost," Ding Zeren challenged as he joined Xiao Gui on the table.

"Nononononono!" Zhengting yelled, sounding distressed. He was also covered in food, Xiao Gui noted. Zeren just ignored his leader as he advanced on Xiao Gui.

Xiao Gui just gave a battle cry and threw the food he was holding in his hands at Zeren. But it didn't hit him. Zhengting had somehow managed to get past Justin and Chengcheng to pull Zeren of the table.

"You guys are going to be the end of me," Zhengting complained as he dragged Zeren down.

"I'll count that as a win," Xiao Gui said to Zeren and did a victory pose. He could hear Xingjie laugh below him and it made him do an even more over the top pose.

"Not fair!" Zeren protested.

"Still a win to Gramarie."

"Zhengting-ge, that's not fair," Zeren pouted. Zhengting just rolled his eyes.

"I'm just doing the responsible thing making sure you don't fall off a table and injure yourself. Xingjie should maybe do the same with his teammate?" The last bit Zhengting directed at Xingjie, who shrugged.

"I'll just catch him if he falls." He said it so casually, but it still made Xiao Gui's heart skip a beat. "But I think he'll be fine. One – zero to Gramarie."

Xingjie grinned and held up a hand for Xiao Gui to high five.

God, Xiao Gui was so in love with him.

He high fived Xingjie and grinned at Zeren, who pouted some more. But Xingjie didn't take down his hand. He smiled up at Xiao Gui, eye's shining.

"Come on, I'll help you down."

"I don't need help," Xiao Gui said automatically. Xingjie rolled his eyes.

"Of course not," he said and took Xiao Gui's hand and helped him off the table before he could protest again. And maybe they held on a second too long before they let go. Xiao Gui tried to ignore it because it probably didn't mean anything. Xingjie did not have the same feelings towards him as he felt for the older. He was pretty sure that Xingjie just looked at him a younger brother.

After that, the dance mentors sent them off to wash up and pack the things they needed. Xiao Gui, Xingjie, and Yanchen quickly returned to the room they shared, all eager to get out of their dirty clothes now that the food fight was over.

 

- 

 

Xiao Gui looked in the mirror in the bathroom. He had cake and various food items all over his face and hair. He sighed. Food-fights were fun at the moment but afterward, not so much.

"Why did you have start a food-fight?" he yelled out to Xingjie.

"What? I didn't start anything. It was all Justin and Chengcheng's fault," Xingjie defended himself. He showed up in the doorway and Xiao Gui's breath got stuck in his throat. Xingjie didn't have a shirt on and Xiao Gui quickly turned his gaze back to the mirror. He felt his ears get hot and he hoped that Xingjie wouldn't notice.

"Yeah, right," he said and tried to sound normal. He started to wash his face, so he didn't have to look at Xingjie.

Suddenly he felt Xingjie nudge his shoulder. "Hey, scoot over, bro"

Xiao Gui silently made room for Xingjie. As much as he could, the bathroom was not made for two people standing beside each other. They were literally shoulder to shoulder and Xiao Gui could feel the heat radiate from Xingjie.

"I'm done," he said and quickly dried his face on a towel. "You can have all the space." He started to leave, but Xingjie caught his arm.

"You have food all over your dreads, you are not done," Xingjie pointed out.

"Oh, I can just..." Xiao Gui started and pointed out to the room. He really wanted to leave.

"Don't be stupid," Xingjie said and pulled him back. "Let me help you, you'll never get it all out otherwise. Sit." He pointed to the toilet and Xiao Gui reluctantly sat down.

Xingjie took up the towel that Xiao Gui had left and started to clean off his dreads one at the time. Xiao Gui just sat as frozen, not daring to move. He had Xingjie's naked torso right in front of him and if he just leaned forward a little bit he could rest his face on Xingjie's smooth stomach. Not that he would ever dare to do that. So, he sat still in a confused state of not daring to move and fighting the urge to touch.

"Are you guys done? I was going to head back," Yanchen said and poked his head inside the bathroom.

"Not yet, you can go without us," Xingjie answered without turning around. He was fully focused on cleaning Xiao Gui's dreads.

'No, please don't leave me here alone,' Xiao Gui pleaded with his eyes when Yanchen looked at him. His heart wouldn't be able to handle the stress of being alone with Xingjie.

Yanchen, the bastard, just smiled his boxy grin and actually winked at Xiao Gui.

"Okay, have fun," he said and then left with a little wave. Xiao Gui groaned on the inside.

"What does he mean fun?" Xingjie said, "It's not like cleaning your dreads is fun."

"Well, it was your idea," Xiao Gui said. Xingjie pulled his hair lightly. It sent a shiver down Xiao Gui's spine.

"Just because you couldn't do it yourself," the older said firmly. "Now sit still."

"I have literally not moved!" Xiao Gui defended himself. Why was Xingjie like this? He pulled at his hair again, a little harder, as if he was testing the limits. Xiao Gui almost whimpered but managed to stop himself.

"Just finish so we can go back," he begged and tried to think holier thoughts.

"So, I'm done. Now you're all clean," Xingjie said after a couple of minutes and patted him on the head.

Xiao Gui nodded, thankful that it was finally over. He stood up and tried to move past Xingjie and leave the bathroom, but the older suddenly pinned him to the wall. This time Xiao Gui couldn't stop the small whimper that passed through his lips.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Xingjie said and crooked his head to the side.

Xiao Gui just stared at him a couple of seconds before he managed to croak out a: "Thank you."

"Thought so. Good boy," Xingjie grinned and let go of Xiao Gui who stumbled out of the bathroom. It felt like his heart was trying to beat itself out of his chest, holy shit.

"You can leave without me," Xingjie said after him. "I still need to change clothes."

"Okay, see ya soon!" Xiao Gui called and more or less bolted from the room. Holy fucking shit, what had just happened?

 

-

 

Playing truth and dare wasn't anything Xiao Gui thought he'd be doing on this show. But here they were, sitting in a big circle like they all still were in high school. But it was kind of entertaining. Especially the dance-off between Ding Zeren and Lin Chaoze had been fun and seeing Xukun trying to seduce Ziyi had left him with aching cheeks for laughing so much. Right now, Bu Fan was carrying Yue Yue bridal style around the room. The older had hidden his face in Bu Fan's shoulder and Bu Fan was grinning like an idiot.

"Don't be embarrassed, Lao Yue," Bu Fan said as the others cheered.

"Just finish your dare," Yue Yue begged without looking up.

"Looking good!" Xiao Gui called after them, and Yue Yue shoot him a glare over Bu Fan's shoulder when they passed.

"You'll make a lovely bride one day," Xingjie added with a grin, and then he collapsed laughing over Xiao Gui's shoulder.

Because of course they were seated next to each other on the floor. Xiao Gui still wasn't sure what had happened in the bathroom earlier, but when he'd tried to take a seat next to Bu Fan – who just happened to be seated on the other side of the circle from Xingjie – the older had pulled him down next to him with an easy smile.

"Okay, now it's my turn to spin," Bu Fan said and put Yue Yue down, surprisingly gently. Xiao Gui noted that Yue Yue had a soft pink blush on his cheeks and he avoided to look at anyone. Ling Chao pulled him down on the floor and started to whisper in his ear, with Mu Ziyang hanging over his shoulder.

Bu Fan spun the bottle and several trainees put their hands together and prayed that the bottle wouldn't stop on them.

It stopped on Xingjie.

"Huba!" several of the trainees yelled, happily. Xingjie gave them a glare that didn't scare anyone.

Xiao Gui was just happy that it hadn't stopped on him, it had been close.

"Huba, what are you gonna choose? Truth or dare?" Justin asked and leaned over Chengcheng to get closer to Xingjie.

"You know what will happen if you continue with the ‘Huba'," Xingjie warned and pointed to the youngest trainee. "And I'm still holding you accountable for this," he added and turned to Xiao Gui who just smile innocently.

"Sorry," he said, and then quietly added: "Huba." He wasn't sure, but it looked like Xingjie was fighting back a smile. 

"Okay, I choose dare," Xingjie finally said and raised his chin as a challenge. "Bring it on, Bu Fan."

Yue Yue immediately pulled Bu Fan to him and whispered something in his ear. For some reason, they were both looking at Xiao Gui with matching grins that gave him chills.

"Hey, no helping," he said and pointed at Yue Yue, who let go of Bu Fan and smiled innocently.

"Okay, I got it," Bu Fan said with a smile that meant that he was up to no good. Why did Xiao Gui feel like he was the one that was going to suffer?

"I'm going to take some inspiration from Zhou Rui," he continued, and Xiao Gui's heart sank. This was bad. Yue Yue was smirking at him and Xiao Gui wished that he could disappear. "I want you to dance to seduce…"

‘Please no', Xiao Gui begged.

"Xiao Gui," Bu Fan finished, and Xiao Gui felt his soul leave his body. Xingjie gave him a looked that he couldn't read.

"No backing out now," Yanchen said and nudged Xingjie to get him to get up.

"Who said anything about backing out?" Xingjie said, full of confidence and got up from the floor. Xiao Gui wished that the floor would swallow him and save him from this. "Give me something to dance to."

Ziyi shot Xiao Gui a sympathetic look as Chaoze and Zeren started to argue over which song to choose. Xingjie placed himself in the middle of the circle and Yanchen moved closer to Xiao Gui, as to prevent him from bolting.

"Oh, I know just the song," Ling Chao suddenly said and ran over to Chaoze and Zeren. He whispered something to them.

"Yes, perfect!" Chaoze exclaimed and started to type on his phone.

"You are a genius," Zeren praised and hit Ling Chao on the back. Xiao Gui did not like the smile Ling Chao sent over to him. What was it with the Qin trainees and wanting him dead?

"'Hey playboy…'" The music started, and all the trainees howled as the recognized EXO's Playboy. Xiao Gui wanted to die. Xingjie rolled his eyes at the other trainees before he suddenly rolled his hips.

This was going to be the end of Xiao Gui.

As always Xingjie became one with the performance. There was nothing pure in his eyes as he looked at Xiao Gui and rolled his hips again. Then he started to move forward in a set of fluid motions as the other trainees cheered. Xiao Gui sat frozen, unable to remove his eyes from Xingjie. God, he was beautiful.

Suddenly Xingjie dropped down on his knees and rolled his hips again, now right in front of Xiao Gui. He felt lightheaded and couldn't hear the other trainee's cheers or the music anymore. The only thing that existed was Xingjie's eyes on him.

Xiao Gui thought he would die when Xingjie leaned forward so he was hovering over him, but when he put a hand under Xiao Gui's chin and lifted it up, he jerked back. This was too much. He scrambled to his feet and without giving Xingjie another look, he bolted from the room. He could hear the other trainees confused mumbles, but he didn't care. He couldn't stay there.

He ran until he found a quiet corner where he knew that no cameras could catch him. He leaned against the wall and closed his eye. Shit, this was so embarrassing. Now everyone would wonder why he left. What would Xingjie think?

He groaned and slipped down to the floor. He would never be able to look Xingjie in the eyes again. Even Ziyi had managed to stay in his seat when Xukun had been more or less giving him a lap dance, but not Xiao Gui, no, he had bolted as soon as Xingjie touched him.

"Why me?" he asked out loud and put his face in his hands.

"Xiao Gui?" Xingjie suddenly called. Xiao Gui immediately froze. _Crap_.

"Xiao Gui?" Xingjie tried again when he didn't get an answer. "Linkai?"

"I told you not to call me that…" Xiao Gui mumbled. Xingjie's footsteps got closer and suddenly stopped. Xiao Gui didn't dare to look upon him.

"I know, but it got you to answer," Xingjie reasoned. Xiao Gui just mumbled something inaudible. 

"Hi," Xingjie said carefully and crouched down.

"Hey," Xiao Gui answered quietly, without looking up.

"I'm sorry," Xingjie started, "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. It was a stupid dare, I should've refused."

"It's not your fault," Xiao Gui mumbled. "Bu Fan and Yue Yue did it to tease me, they know I…" He trailed off, not knowing how to finish the sentence. They know I have feelings for you?

"What do they know?" Xingjie said when Xiao Gui didn't continue. He didn't sound forceful, just curious.  

"… nothing," Xiao Gui said. He would never be able to tell Xingjie how he felt. It would probably just ruin their friendship, and he didn't want that.

"Gui…" Xingjie said and carefully grabbed Xiao Gui's wrists and pulled them down. Xiao Gui still couldn't make himself look Xingjie in the eyes, so he stared down at his lap. "You know you can tell me anything, right?"

"I know…"

"So please talk to me, I have never seen you storm off like that."

"I'm sorry."

"Hey," Xingjie said and lifted Xiao Gui's chin. The touch sent the butterflies in Xiao Gui's stomach off. "Please look at me."

Xiao Gui reluctantly lifted his eyes and met Xingjie's. They were filled with worry.

"You don't need to apologize," Xingjie said firmly. "I was the one who made you uncomfortable."

"You didn't make me uncomfortable…" Xiao Gui confessed.

Xingjie looked confused, then something clicked. He tilted his head to the side and he seemed to be looking at Xiao Gui with new eyes.

"Do you…" he started but Xiao Gui interrupted him.

"You don't have to say it," he said abruptly. "I don't want to hear it. I know that you don't… feel the same or whatever. I just want to forget this and please don't hate me."

"Why would I hate you?" Xingjie sounded confused.

"I just…" Xiao Gui said, not knowing how to finish.

"Xiao Gui," Xingjie said, now sternly. "I could never hate you, don't you dare think that again. And for the other part…" He suddenly pushed Xiao Gui's knees down and moved forward so he was straddling the other's lap.

"Um…" Xiao Gui managed to say, suddenly hyperaware of Xingjie's presence.

"I like you," Xingjie said and put his hands on Xiao Gui's cheeks. "I thought I'd scared you off when you ran away, and I was so afraid that you wouldn't want to be around me anymore."

"Um…" Xiao Gui said again. His brain seemed to have short-circuited. Xingjie smiled fondly.

"But as I take it now, you like me too?"

"Um…"

"You could just nod," Xingjie supplied helpfully, with a satisfied smile. Xiao Gui nodded.

"Good," was all Xingjie said before he leaned forward and kissed Xiao Gui.

The kiss seemed to restart Xiao Gui and he could finally function again. He wrapped his arms around Xingjie's middle and pulled him closer. He could feel Xingjie smiling against his lips and it was the best feeling ever. A part of him still couldn't believe this was happening. Had he passed out during Xingjie's dance and gone to some sort of fairy tale land?

But a much bigger part of him just ignored the doubt and let himself be caught in the moment. He was finally kissing Xingjie and it was way better than he could've ever imagined.

"Holy fuck," Xiao Gui breathed when they eventually broke the kiss. Xingjie laughed.

"Yeah," he agreed and stroked Xiao Gui's cheek. "Why didn't you tell me how you felt earlier?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Xiao Gui countered and squeezed Xingjie's waist. Now when he had Xingjie literally in his arms he wasn't afraid anymore.

"Point taken," Xingjie smiled. "But I'm glad we finally did something about this." He pointed between them.

"Me too," Xiao Gui said with his widest smile. Then he leaned forward and kissed Xingjie again. Now that he was allowed to do that he never wanted to stop.

 

-

 

When they finally made it back to the other trainees they had stopped playing truth and dare. Apparently, they had decided to stop when Ling Chao on a dare had straddled Ziyang's lap and started to make out with him, Yanchen told them.

"Kiss, I said! Not a straight out make-out session!" Lu Dinghao said, sounding like it was not the first time. "I wanted it to be pure! Now you have damaged the kids for life! And you are just a kid!"

Ling Chao just shrugged with a grin from his spot in Ziyang's lap. Ziyang had hidden his face between Ling Chao's shoulder-blades. At least he had some shame.

The other trainees were busy setting up their sleeping bags around the room, so not many paid any mind to Xiao Gui and Xingjie returning. Bu Fan grinned at them from across the room and Xiao Gui wanted to kick him. Well, it had turned out great, but that couldn't Bu Fan know. For all he knew he could've ruined Xiao Gui's life.

"Here, I saved you guys a spot," Yanchen said and showed them to a spot by the wall. It was just enough space for two sleeping bags between Yanchen and Zhou Rui.

"Welcome back," Zhou Rui said with a knowing smile when he saw them. Xiao Gui could feel his ears get red. Xingjie smacked Zhou Rui lightly over the head.

"Are you guys okay?" Yanchen asked, a little bit nervous.

Xiao Gui and Xingjie shared a look.

"Yeah, we're okay," Xingjie smiled.

"We are," Xiao Gui agreed.

"Gross," Zhou Rui commented. Now both Xingjie and Xiao Gui hit him, and not as lightly.

 

Later when the light was out, Xingjie pulled him closer, so he could press a gentle kiss on Xiao Gui's cheek.

"Goodnight," he smiled and nuzzled his face against Xiao Gui's neck.

"Goodnight, Huba," Xiao Gui whispered back with a smile. He could feel Xingjie huff, but he didn't say anything about it.

Xiao Gui fell asleep, feeling completely content in Xingjie's arms.  

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I miss Huba so much, bring Huba back pls *stares longingly at my phone background of Xingjie*
> 
> Now I actually have no idea of which ship I'm gonna do next. I have started on both chengstin and qinmu (and zikun, but zikun is going to be the last chapter), so you guys can decide which ship you want next! Either chengstin, qinmu, yuefan or chaoyang! Let me know in the comments! (you can also let me know what you thought of this chapter, that would be great, please and thank you)
> 
> You guys are the best, thank you so much for reading, it warms my cold dead heart. Throwing it out there again that if you want you can come and scream with/at me on tumblr on @slytherinspacecat (how the hell do i make this into a link? help?)


	4. Chengstin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chengcheng and Justin were best friends. And if Chengcheng just happened to maybe like Justin a little bit more than could be considered "just friends", then it was nothing weird with that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I live! *insert gif of Mushu rising from smoke, you know the one*
> 
> This summer has been crazy, I've been working more or less non-stop, and it's been a heatwave in Sweden (like, unnaturally warm for weeks, leaving the country burning and new bloodsucking bugs to evolve (neat, right?)) so my creativity has literally died of heatstroke. Writing hasn't really been possible. 
> 
> But now the summer is over and the temperature is back down on normal degrees. And I'm in some void of "what the hell am I supposed to with my life?", I've just decided to not to continue to study this semester. So now I need to find a job. But that also means more time for writing! Yay! So I haven't given up on any of my fics, summer just happened. But now I'm back with more regular updates. 
> 
> I'm gonna stop talking now, literally no one is interested in my life, you just want Chengstin, don't you? So here you go, some sweet Chengstin for you needs :*

 

 

"This is suspicious," Justin said as soon as they arrived in the empty training room. Well, empty except for the last 35 trainees, but it was nothing there that gave away why they'd been summoned.

Chengcheng hummed in agreement. None of them had really gotten over the ghost prank. Justin had tried to act all tough, pretending he hadn't been scared, but he had slipped into Chengcheng's bed the same night, threatening to hit him if he ever told anyone.

As friends of course. Because friends could share a bed, it was nothing weird with that. Apparently, Qin Fen and Han Mubo shared a bed all the time, Zuo Ye had told them. And they were like best friends. When they told Zhengting that, he'd just rolled his eyes at them, mumbling something about "innocent kids" and "you guys are so dense."

Chengcheng and Justin were also best friends. So, it was nothing weird about them sharing a bed. And if Chengcheng just happened to maybe like Justin a little bit more than could be considered "just friends", then it was nothing weird with that either.

He should really stop using the word weird now.

"If we just sit down I'm sure PD will explain everything eventually," Cai Xukun said over the sound of the trainees complaining over the fact that this most likely was another prank.

Zhengting quickly pulled them all down on the floor, being the mother he was. As soon as Chengcheng sat down Justin threw himself over him.

"Justin," Chengcheng complained, but it was mostly for show. He didn't mind having Justin in his lap.

"The floor is hard and dirty," Justin reasoned as he moved around to find a comfortable spot on top of Chengcheng. Chengcheng groaned. "And you're soft."

"You deserve to sit on the hard and dirty floor," Chengcheng told him, but he didn't push him off, he just moved so they both were more comfortable. Justin gave him a blinding smile and Chengcheng's cheeks got hot. In the corner of his eye, he could see Zhengting roll his eyes.

"Thank you, Chengcheng," Justin smiled and Chengcheng just mumbled something incoherent.

He gingerly put his arms around the younger's waist and rested his chin against Justin's shoulder. Justin didn't seem to mind.

When Cheng Xiao and Jieqiong arrived they all quickly got up from the floor. Chengcheng immediately missed Justin's warmth. Then the mentors announced that they were going to have a sleepover here in the training room and Chengcheng could sense Justin buzzing with excitement beside him.

"Didn't you just call the floor hard and dirty?" Bi Wenjun, also noticing Justin excitement, asked. "Why are you so excited over sleeping on it?"

Justin laughed and shrugged. "I could just sleep on Chengcheng."

"Oh no, you don't," Chengcheng said immediately.

"Gay," Ding Zeren whispered, not very discreetly, to Huang Xinchun. Chengcheng glared at him, but Zeren just winked back. Not that Zeren was any less gay, considering the way the stared after Zhou Yanchen.

Justin seemed to be one of the few who looked excited, most of the others just looked confused or mistrusting. Lou Zheng looked like he might cry. Or maybe that just was because he more or less always looked like he was about to cry.

Everyone brightened up when the staff started to bring in the food. Now there was something to be excited about. 

"Dibs on the pizza!" Justin yelled as soon as the staff put down the last container of food and tried to run towards the table. Chengcheng was right behind him. His body seemed to react instinctively on Justin.

"Behave," Zhu Zhenting reprimanded and caught them in the collars. Justin whined and Chengcheng pouted. Zhengting wasn't fazed at all by that. Behind him, Quanzhe snickered. Chengcheng resisted the urge to stick his tongue out at him.

Zhengting still had his hands on their collars as he forced them down in a bow towards the teachers. Which was completely unnecessary, because of course Chengcheng and Justin would've bowed by themselves. But Zhengting didn't seem to want to take any risks. Justin caught Chengcheng's eyes in to bow and rolled his eyes at Zhengting. Chengcheng responded with his own roll of his eyes, yes, Zhengting was being ridiculous. But that wasn't anything new.

After that, they were finally allowed to dig in on the food. Chengcheng and Justin was shoulder to shoulder as they ate. Chengcheng was so focused on the food that he didn't notice that Justin took up a cupcake before it hit his face.

"Take that, Chengcheng!"

Chengcheng spluttered incoherently as Justin laughed. Chengcheng tried to wipe the frosting off his face as he glared at Justin. He might have a small (very small) crush on the younger boy, but Justin was still a little devil.

Chengcheng took up a cupcake from the same plate as Justin and chucked it at the younger. The only problem was, Justin ducked, and the cupcake hit Xingjie in the back of his head. _Oh no_. Bad, very bad. He knew that Justin likes to tease the older trainee, but unlike him, Chengcheng didn't have a death wish.

And the glare that Xingjie gave him could certainly kill.

Chengcheng froze as Xingjie took up a piece of cake and started to advance on him. Behind him, Chengcheng could see Xiao Gui who just shook his head. Chengcheng was certainly not going to get any help from him.

"You're so dead, Chengcheng," Xingjie said as he got closer.

"You should probably run," Justin managed to get out between laughs. Chengcheng shot him a short glare. He was going to kill Justin. This was all his fault. But that had to wait until after he'd escaped Xingjie.

He turned around and ran. Unfortunately, Xingjie was quicker than he looked and Chengcheng didn't get far before the older was over him, smashing cake into his face and hair. Behind him, he could hear Bu Fan roaring "FOOD-FIGHT!"  

"Please, Huba, spare me!" Chengcheng tried to plead. It probably wasn't his smartest choice to call Xingjie Huba at that moment.

"What did you call me?" Xingjie said dangerously low.

"Xingjie-ge!" Chengcheng immediately changed. "Xingjie-ge, please!"

Xingjie suddenly let go of Chengcheng, which made him fall to the floor, as various food items came flying. Xingjie ducked and moved out of the way.

Chengcheng looked up from his place on the floor and saw Justin throwing food in their direction. He was grinning like a madman and didn't seem to care who he hit. A warm feeling spread in Chengcheng's chest. Was Justin defending him?

"Justin, what the fuck?" Xingjie hissed as he fled from Justin's shower of food. Chengcheng, still on the floor, got quite a bit of it over him, but he didn't care.

Justin stopped when Xingjie moved out of the way and moved over to Chengcheng. He crouched down beside his best friend.

"I saved you," Justin grinned. Chengcheng looked dumbstruck up at him. It was not okay to be that cute.

"Yeah, thank you," Chengcheng finally managed to say when he realized that Justin was still waiting for an answer. "But we wouldn't be having this food-fight if you hadn't started it."

"People seem to be having fun," Justin commented with a shrug. Chengcheng glanced over his shoulder to see that yes, people seemed to be having fun. Except for maybe Zhengting who was chasing a laughing Xukun.

"So far I haven't been having fun," Chengcheng complained and made another futile try to wipe some food off him.

"Then we'll have to change that," Justin said firmly and stood up. Then he held out a hand for Chengcheng and help him up.  "Let's wreck some havoc."

They wore a matching set of grins as the threw themselves into the food-fight head first. Now Chengcheng got to have some fun. But the funniest part was when he turned to an unexpecting Justin and pushed up a cake in his face. Oh, sweet revenge.

"Chengcheng!" Justin wailed. "I thought we were partners!"

"That was payback from earlier. Now we're even," Chengcheng grinned as Justin tried to wipe the cake from his face.

"I got cake in my eyes," he complained and pouted. And damn, Chengcheng was weak for that pout.

"Stand still," he ordered and moved closer to Justin. "I said stand still," he repeated when Justin tried to rub his eyes again. He took Justin's wrists and removed the younger's hands from his face. Then he carefully started to wipe the cream and frosting from around Justin's eyes. Justin was slightly trembling under his touch and he tried to be as careful as he could.

"Done," Chengcheng said and stepped back. "Or at least you should be able to see again. But you still have cake over most of your face."

"Rude," Justin commented and Chengcheng hit him on the arm.

"Thank you," Justin quickly added before Chengcheng could hit him again. Chengcheng nodded satisfied. 

"Nononononono!" Zhengting suddenly yelled – Chengcheng would recognize Zhengting's distressed yell everywhere – and Chengcheng and Justin turned around to see him trying to get to Zeren, who was on the table facing Xiao Gui. A shared look was all it took for Chengcheng and Justin to move forward to try to stop Zhengting.

Zhengting seemed to be prepared for it though, and embarrassingly easy got past them by sweeping them off their feet and jumping over them. Damn him and his athletic abilities. Chengcheng and Justin could only look as Zhengting dragged the complaining Zeren off the table.

"You guys are going to be the end of me," Zhengting complained and dumped Zeren next to Chengcheng and Justin. Chengcheng just shrugged. They had all accepted since long that Zhengting would never stop mothering them. It was in his nature.

The mentors interrupted them before Zhengting could give Zeren a proper scolding, to Zeren's relief. They got sent off to clean up, a much-needed thing for the Yuehua boys. Chengcheng and Justin probably looked the worst, then surprisingly it was Zhengting who was in the dirtiest state.

"Xukun dumped a whole cake over me, can you believe it?" Zhengting complained as the walked back to the dorms.

"You should've seen his face," Wenjun whispered with a grin to Chengcheng and Justin.

"Xinchun drew a heart on Lu Dinghao's face with chocolate," Quanzhe tattled with a mischievous look at Xinchun who choked.

"Quanzhe," he squeaked.

"Aw, cute," Justin said and did a kissy face. Xinchun hit him.

"I was just trying to apologize for spitting water in his face," Xinchun tried to explain, but no one believed him. 

"Sure, Minion boy," Zeren said with his typical grin and patted Xinchun of the arm.

"Stop teasing Xinchun, let him confess his feelings in his own time. Go clean off now," Zhengting ordered and sent Wenjun – after have stroked some food off his face, leaving Wenjun blushing – Xinchun and Zeren off to their room. Then he herded Chengcheng, Justin, and Quanzhe to their room.

Justin immediately stripped out of his dirty clothes, having no sense of modesty. Zhengting had complained over it countless of times, pointing at the cameras. Justin had just reasoned that they never would show footages of them undressed, so this was just a great way of making sure they would have the privacy of their room. Zhengting had looked stunned for a moment before he'd dropped it, not really finding any arguments to counter Justin. 

Chengcheng wished that Justin didn't find it so easy to walk around in just his underwear, because it was kind of distracting. Not that he stared, he would never.

"Remember to hurry up," Zhengting yelled from inside the bathroom.

"Says the one hogging the bathroom," Chengcheng called back. The food had started to dry on his skin and he felt highly uncomfortable. Zhengting came out, now clean.

"Well, if you and Justin hadn't started this food-fight, we wouldn't be in this sorry state."

"Hey, it was Justin who started it!" Chengcheng complained.

"I only threw the first cupcake, it was you who made it into a food-fight by throwing back and hitting Xingjie," Justin reasoned with a grin, clearly well aware that he was the one to blame.

"I think Bu Fan is the one who actually made it to a food-fight," Quanzhe piped up.

"Thank you, Quanzhe," Justin said with a proud grin, satisfied that he could put the blame on someone else.

"Yeah, thanks, Quanzhe," Chengcheng said sourly.

"You are all to blame," Zhengting concluded and pushed Justin into the bathroom. "Now clean up and put on some damn clothes."

After they all had cleaned up and Zhengting was finished fussing over them, they left for the training room again. Wenjun, Xinchun, and Zeren had come into their room after they were finished so they could walk back together. But they didn't come far before someone ran out from a room and crashed into Xinchun.

Chengcheng and Justin shared a grin when they realized that it was none other than Lu Dinghao, Xinchun's crush. Xinchun looked a little surprised but immediately smiled when he saw that it was Dinghao.

"Heading back?" he asked, his hands on Dinghao's shoulders.

"Yes. But not with you!" Dinghao yelled before he pulled free and ran away. "You can't win over me, Huang Xinchun!"

"What?" Xinchun said, staring after Dinghao. Chengcheng and the others looked equally surprised.

"He thinks you have a feud," Lin Chaoze explained, having followed Dinghao out of the room.

"A feud?" Xinchun echoed. Chengcheng almost felt bad for laughing, but that was too good. Justin leaned on him to not fall over from laughing. Zeren and Quanzhe were also leaning against each other, and Zeren had tears on his face. Wenjun and Zhengting was the only one managing to keep a somewhat straight face, but Chengcheng could see they also had to fight to not smile.

"Don't ask me what's going on in that boy's head, because I have no idea," Chaoze said as they started to walk. He sounded like a tired dad, which was a bit ironic because Chengcheng was pretty sure that Dinghao was older than Chaoze. Maybe it was a leader thing.

"I don't want to have a feud with him," Xinchun said with a small voice.

"We know you don't," Zhengting comforted.

"I don't think Dinghao wants that either, he's just being stupid. Not that that's something unusual," Chaoze said, sighing. "I'll try to talk some sense into him."

"Thank you, Chaoze-ge," Xinchun said.

They arrived back at the training room and Chaoze immediately stalked off to Dinghao. Chengcheng didn't blame Dinghao for trying to hide behind You Zhangjing, Chaoze could be scary when he wanted to.

After a while the dance mentors returned, looking flawless again.

"Oh my god, I love Truth and Dare!" Justin exclaimed right into Chengcheng's ear when Jieqiong announced the game. The reactions among the trainees were varying, but most of them seemed at least somewhat excited. Chengcheng could feel a smile tugging at his lips, probably because of Justin, but inside he wasn't so sure that he was excited. It could be fun with Truth and Dare, as long as the bottle didn't stop at him. But knowing his luck, it probably would.

The trainees shifted around until they'd made a big circle on the floor. Chengcheng and Justin grinned at each other when they saw Xinchun casting glances over at the Banana trainees – or at one of them in particular.

"Now, I will start," Cheng Xiao said and spun the bottle. Chengcheng leaned forward together with most of the other trainees, all curious about who would be the first victim of the game.

It stopped at Ding Zeren.

Justin leaped over Chengcheng to throw himself over Zeren who didn't look the least afraid to be the first victim of the game. Quanzhe and Zhengting had also threw themselves over the smallest Yuehua trainee.

"Truth or dare?" Cheng Xiao asked, and Zeren pushed the others of him before he answered with confidence:

"Dare."

Chengcheng grinned as Justin cheered. Wenjun patted Zeren on the shoulder and Quanzhe looked excited, leaning forward to look between Zeren and Cheng Xiao.

Cheng Xiao looked thrilled before she made a thinking face. "I want you to… have a dance-off with… Lin Chao," she finally said.

Zeren immediately got up and pointed at Chaoze who wore a similar confident grin. "Bring it on, Little Superman."

"Take him down!" Lu Dinghao said as Chaoze got up. Chengcheng didn't fail to notice how Xinchun's expression softened as soon as Dinghao opened his mouth. Chengcheng nudged Justin and pointed discreetly at Xinchun and mouthed "traitor". Justin grinned and shook his head.

"Of course, the little Yuehua trainee won't know what hit him," Chaoze said and spun around so he was in front of Zeren. Even if Zeren was the shortest of the Yuehua trainees, Chaoze was even shorter. 

"You can do this, Ding-ge!" Justin shouted and clapped his hands.

Zeren went first, and Chengcheng had to admit that he probably never would stop being impressed by his ge's dancing abilities. He wasn't surprised that even Zhang PD himself had praised Zeren. Not that Chaoze wasn't impressive. He was just as good, with his own style consisting a lot of spins. Chengcheng wondered how he didn't become dizzy.

Chengcheng and the others did their best to cheer Zeren on, and the few Banana trainees that were left did the same for Chaoze. It was really fun. Justin was bouncing with excitement next to him, and Chengcheng maybe had to admit that he glanced more at Justin's smiling face than on the dance-off. 

After Cheng Xiao had announced them both winner it was Zeren's turn to spin the bottle. To all the trainees' delight, it stopped on Jieqiong. Chengcheng wasn't sure, but it looked like she might blush a bit.

"Truth or dare?" Zeren asked, a bit cheeky. Jieqiong gave the trainees a quick glance over like she was considering if it was worth it before she answered.

"Dare."

The cheers that erupted was much bigger than the ones Zeren got. Zhou Rui looked like Christmas had come early and Li Xikan fell over of excitement. Justin was hitting Chengcheng on the arm until Chengcheng caught his wrist to make him stop.

"I dare you to kiss Teacher Cheng Xiao on the cheek," Zeren said almost immediately, and that set of an even bigger chaos of cheers and whistles. This time Jieqiong was definitely blushing and Cheng Xiao laughed.

Jieqiong gave Zeren a glare that very clearly said that he was out on thin fucking ice, and Chengcheng was impressed that Zeren didn't flinch back before she turned to Cheng Xiao and quickly gave her a peck on the cheek.

All the trainees cheered again but quieted down as Jieqiong got up to spin the bottle. Chengcheng's heart almost stopped when the bottles slowed down in front of him but breathed out when it stopped on Justin instead. But then Jieqiong grinned at him before she turned to Justin and Chengcheng got a feeling of dread. Was she on to him and his totally not very big crush on Justin?

"Truth or dare?" she asked.

"Dare," Justin said immediately, clearly not wanting to be worse than Zeren and Jieqiong. Chengcheng wished that Justin had considered that the dare probably wouldn't affect only him. 

"I want you to hold Chengcheng's hand for the rest of the game," Jieqiong said and Chengcheng wished that he'd heard wrong. Someone whistled. Chengcheng suspected Zhou Rui.

Justin gave Chengcheng a quick look he couldn't read, which felt wrong, he always knew what was on Justin's mind, before he grabbed Chengcheng's hand and intertwined their fingers.

So, if Chengcheng's heart stopped, no one needed to know. But judging by the look Zhengting gave him, he knew.

"My turn to spin!" Justin said, clearly unaffected and unaware of the effect their hand-holding had on Chengcheng. "Come on, Chengcheng," he added and pulled Chengcheng up with him, so he could spin the bottle in the middle of the circle. Chengcheng tried to act unaffected, like holding Justin's hand was nothing, as the other trainees giggled at them.

Chengcheng was cool and collected, he was not having a gay panic at that very moment. Nope. He was the embodiment of not caring. One hundred percent.

The bottle stopped at Zhou Rui and Chengcheng egged Justin on to give him a really embarrassing dare when the older chose that.

"Is this okay?" Justin asked Zhengting and whispered something to him. Zhengting looked shocked and hit Justin on the shoulder when he was finished.

"Absolutely not!" Zhengting said, appalled.

"Okay then," Justin pouted and Chengcheng wondered what he had said to Zhengting to make him look so horrified. "I want you to act cute. Three different expressions!"

Zhou Rui groaned as the trainees laughed. "Fine."

He did three cute expressions, the look in his eyes pained, while the trainees cheered.

So far, the game had been pretty innocent, but it took a sharp turn when the bottle stopped on Xukun and Zhou Rui dared him to seduce Wang Ziyi with his dance. The scandalous noise Zhengting made, made Chengcheng snort.

After that more trainees seemed to think it was okay to do more daring dares. Chengcheng had probably thought that the game was more fun if he hadn't been so distracted by Justin's hand in his. Every time something extra excited or fun happened, Justin squeezed his hand. Chengcheng just hoped that his hand wasn't all sweaty and disgusting, but Justin didn't seem to mind. He was being loud, as usual, cheering trainees on and teasing some of them, seemingly not at all bothered that he was holding Chengcheng's hand all the time. Chengcheng concluded that Justin probably didn't feel the same as him then.

Chengcheng was so occupied with his thoughts that he didn't pay any attention to the game and suddenly Zhengting tackled him and Justin out of nowhere.

"What the hell?" he said as Zhengting covered both his and Justin's eyes.

"Oh my god, you guys!" Zhengting yelled. "Yue Yue, please control your children!"

Chengcheng managed to peak out from under Zhengting and saw that Ling Chao was busy making out with Mu Ziyang. Way to go, Ling Chao.

"Ting-ge, please get off," Justin groaned. He was still clutching Chengcheng's hand. Zhengting huffed but got off them with help from Wenjun.

"Did you see Ling Chao and Ziyang?" Justin turned around his head and said straight into Chengcheng's ear. Chengcheng hummed and turned around his head so he could look at Justin, but quickly looked up to the ceiling again when he realized that Justin's face was just centimeters from his. He sat up, pulling Justin with him, and hoping his face wasn't completely red.

He tried to suppress the image he got of that if he'd just leaned a little closer, then he could've kissed Justin's plump lips. He'd dreamed about kissing Justin more than once, up to the point where he had a hard time looking at Justin without imagine kissing him. He just hoped that Justin couldn't read his mind, that would be awkward.

He was so occupied with his thoughts again that he didn't even notice that the game ended until Quanzhe remarked:

"You know you can let go now, right?"

Zhengting smacked Quanzhe on the shoulder. Chengcheng looked up and realized that the circle was being dissolved. Justin, who had been talking with Zeren, let out a nervous laugh and immediately let go of Chengcheng.

"Sorry," he said.

"Oh, no problem," Chengcheng said automatically. Wenjun shook his head and Zhengting whispered something to Quanzhe. Zeren just grinned. Why did Chengcheng a feeling that they had an inside joke that he wasn't in on?

"I'm gonna go brush my teeth," he told them and left before anyone could stop him.

The first bathroom he entered he quickly left again since the first thing he saw in there was Bu Fan who had pinned Yue Yue against the wall, and Chengcheng was already scarred enough, thank you very much.

The second one was empty and Chengcheng locked himself in one of the stalls. He had to gather his thoughts before anyone noticed that something was off with him. Or at least before Justin noticed because he got a hunch that the others already knew. Maybe not Quanzhe, but the rest.

Chengcheng didn't have time to wallow in his misery long before the door opened and Zhengting's voice came from outside the stall.

"Fan Chengcheng, are you in here?"

Chengcheng's first thought was to ignore Zhengting, but his sister always said that he needed to be better at opening up and letting his friends in so they could help him, so he found himself humming affirmative.

"Good, because I just walked in on Bu Fan and Yue Yue and I did not need that mental image in my head," Zhengting said and Chengcheng laughed. He could almost hear Zhengting's satisfied smile.

"Let me in?"

Chengcheng unlocked the door and Zhengting slipped in before he locked the door behind him again.

"Well, aren't you a sad sight," Zhengting commented and shook his head.

"Have some mercy," Chengcheng pouted and glared at Zhengting.

"I thought you be happier after spending so much time holding Justin's hand," Zhengting continued, clearly ignoring Chengcheng.

Chengcheng huffed. "I would be if he wasn't so obviously not feeling the same as me." He chose to just roll with the fact that Zhengting seemed to know that he had developed the biggest crush on his younger teammate.

"You're so dense," Zhengting told him, ignoring Chengcheng's offended look. "Come back to the training room."

"Why? So you guys can continue laughing at me?"

"Just trust me on this one," Zhengting said firmly and grabbed Chengcheng's wrist and pulled him up.

Chengcheng made an uncooperative noise but let Zhengting drag him out from the bathroom. There was really no point in resisting, Zhengting was a lot stronger than he looked, and Chengcheng didn't feel like having his ass handed to him right now. 

Back in the training room, the trainees had spread out their sleeping bags all over the floor. Some had already managed to fall asleep, even though others were still running around and screaming. And but others he meant Justin and Zeren of course.

"Chengcheng!" Justin shouted happily when Zhengting dragged him over. Chengcheng couldn't help the smile that reappeared on his face the moment Justin smiled at him.

"Everyone to sleep now," Zhengting ordered and dumped Chengcheng on his sleeping bag that someone had put out for him.

"But Ting-ge," Justin whined.

"No buts, people are already sleeping," Zhengting interrupted him. "Bed." He pointed to the pile of sleeping bags and Justin grumbled but crawled down into his.

Just next to Chengcheng.

"Butts," Justin snickered when Zhengting turned around to fuss over Quanzhe.

"Why do I like you?" Chengcheng mumbled to himself, rolling his eyes at Justin's immaturity (he might have smiled as well, but he could at least pretend to not be whipped for the younger boy).

"Because I'm handsome and amazing," Justin said, surprising Chengcheng. He had thought – hoped – that Justin hadn't heard him. Chengcheng spluttered something inaudible and Justin laughed at him.

"You are the worst," Chengcheng told him when he had calmed down enough to form proper sentences again.

"Nope," Justin said, popping the P. "You like me."

Chengcheng opened his mouth, just to close it again, no words coming out. How did Justin know? Besides him just saying it, but that wasn't really a confession, but Justin looked at him like he knew exactly what Chengcheng felt for him. This was bad.

Justin must have sensed his dread because the teasing smile morphed into a softer one and he shuffled closer. He carefully placed a hand over Chengcheng's heart. Chengcheng felt frozen under Justin's touch, only his heart was moving, beating like crazy under his ribs. There was no way Justin didn't feel it. Chengcheng almost forgot that they were in a room full of other trainees, their brothers from Yuehua literally within arm's reach when Justin locked his eyes onto him. 

"Fan Chengcheng, you know I like you right?"

Of all the things Chengcheng had expected to come out of Justin's mouth, that hadn't been it. He just stared at Justin with big eyes, unable to say anything.

"Like, like you like you," Justin clarified, looking a little bit concerned about Chengcheng's lack of response.

"Say something, you idiot," Zeren chimed in and elbowed Chengcheng in the back. Within arm's reach truly. Why had Justin thought it was a good idea to confess when the other's where just next to them?

"Chengcheng obviously like you too," Quanzhe supplied, ever so helpful.

"I want to hear it from him," Justin pouted, still only looking at Chengcheng.

"I think he might be a little too shocked to say anything," Wenjun said, looking down on them since he and Zhengting still were standing up.

"For fuck's sake," Chengcheng finally breathed out. Justin jumped a little and gave him a sheepish smile. "Why did you choose to confess here and now? I've rather done this without an audience."

"Well, you started it," Justin defended himself. "But do you like me too?"

"Yes," Chengcheng said, feeling himself blush. Justin lit up like the sun, smile so bright it was almost blinding.

"Fantastic."

"That's the most unromantic confession I've ever seen," Zhengting commented, sounding a bit disappointed. Wenjun patted him on the shoulder.

"Sod off, Ting-ge," Justin said and moved closer to Chengcheng. Zhengting made an offended sound, but Chengcheng didn't pay him any mind, not since Justin had moved so close that their noses were touching.

"Oh no, don't be disgusting now," Quanzhe complained.

"Shut up," Justin and Chengcheng said at the same time, and then they both smiled. The others groaned.

"Can I kiss you?" Justin asked, suddenly sounding a bit insecure.

"Yes," Chengcheng breathed out, leaning closer. The kiss was just a light touch of lips, but it was enough to make Chengcheng soar. Justin giggled and nuzzled his face against Chengcheng's neck.

"Adorable," Zhengting sighed, then he clapped his hands. "Now everyone to sleep, come on. Justin and Chengcheng, I'm very happy for you but if you spend the night kissing I will kick you out. Quanzhe, stop giggling. Zeren, stop ogling Zhou Yanchen, and Xinchun, stop staring longingly at Lu Dinghao, just talk to him tomorrow. Wenjun, you are perfect just the way you are."

"Rude," Justin commented against Chengcheng's neck. Chengcheng laughed at both Justin comment and Wenjun's blushing face as wrapped his arms around Justin and pulled him as close as possible.

The night had taken a weird turn, but he guessed it was a good one, as Justin hummed contently in his arms, placing feather-light kisses on his neck and jaw.

"Are you my boyfriend now?" Justin whispered so Zhengting wouldn't hear them.

"I guess?"

"Then I say that you are," Justin decided.

"Sounds good," Chengcheng agreed and placed a kiss on Justin's head. This was good. And admittedly a little weird, mostly because he was unused to it and he doesn't really know how they're gonna handle a relationship in the middle of this competition. He doesn't want to think about what would happen if only one of them make it to the final group. But as Justin started to snore gently in his arms he guessed that it was worth it.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to keep the Chengstin sweet and innocent, I hope I succeeded with that without making this chapter boring. Tell me what you think in the comments! Any kind of comment will make my day 
> 
> And remind me to never write from Chengcheng's point of view ever again. I'm so sick of writing "Chengcheng" all the time. Couldn't he had a shorter name? I understand why so many authors chose short names for their main characters. Writing long names is a pain
> 
> The next chapter will probably be Qinmu. Because I'm in a constant mood of Qinmu feels. But if you yell loud enough in the comments I might make the next chapter Yuefan or Lingyang instead (Zikun is still going to be the last chapter)
> 
> Ps. support our boys in Oner who has debuted now! 
> 
> xoxo, love you all


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